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Limpopo "Northern Transvaal" redirects here. For the rugby union team, see Blue Bulls . For the cricket team previously called Northern Transvaal, see Northerns (cricket team) . Limpopo (/lɪmˈpoʊpoʊ/ ) is the northernmost province of South Africa . It is named after the Limpopo River , which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane , while the provincial legislature is situated in Lebowakgomo . The province is made up of three former homelands of Lebowa , Gazankulu and Venda and part of the former Transvaal province. The Limpopo province was established as one of nine provinces after the 1994 South African general election . The province's name was first "Northern Transvaal", later changed to "Northern Province" on 28 June 1995, with two other provinces. The name was later changed again in 2002 to the Limpopo Province. Limpopo is made up of three main ethnic groups: the Pedi , the Tsonga and the Venda . Traditional leaders and chiefs still form a strong backbone of the province's political landscape. Established in terms of the Limpopo House of Traditional Leaders Act, Act 5 of 2005, the Limpopo House of Traditional Leaders' main function is to advise the government and the legislature on matters related to custom, tradition, and culture, including developmental initiatives that affect rural communities. On 18 August 2017, Kgosi Malesela Dikgale was re-elected as the Chairperson of the Limpopo House of Traditional Leaders. Geography Sundown over one of the mountain ranges found in Limpopo. Limpopo Province shares international borders with districts and provinces of three countries: Botswana 's Central and Kgatleng districts to the west and northwest respectively, Zimbabwe 's Matabeleland South and Masvingo provinces to the north and northeast respectively, and Mozambique 's Gaza Province to the east. Limpopo is the link between South Africa and countries further afield in sub-Saharan Africa . On its southern edge, from east to west, it shares borders with the South African provinces of Mpumalanga , Gauteng , and North West . Its border with Gauteng includes that province's Johannesburg -Pretoria axis, the most industrialised metropolis on the continent. The province is central to regional, national, and international developing markets. Limpopo contains much of the Waterberg Biosphere , a massif of approximately 15,000 km2 (5,800 sq mi) which is the first region in the northern part of South Africa to be named a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve . Law and government Main article: Politics of Limpopo The current Premier of Limpopo Province is Stanley Mathabatha , representing the African National Congress . Municipalities Main article: List of municipalities in Limpopo Limpopo districts and local municipalities Limpopo Province is divided into five district municipalities . The district municipalities are in turn divided into 25 local municipalities : District municipalities Capricorn District Blouberg Lepele-Nkumpi Molemole Polokwane Mopani District Ba-Phalaborwa Greater Giyani Greater Letaba Greater Tzaneen Maruleng Sekhukhune District Elias Motsoaledi Ephraim Mogale Fetakgomo Tubatse Makhuduthamaga Vhembe District Makhado Musina Collins Chabane Thulamela Waterberg District Bela-Bela Lephalale Modimolle–Mookgophong Mogalakwena Thabazimbi Economy Man and his donkeys collecting wood in a rural area Limpopo has a total population of 6.015 Million with 1.641million Households., The province has a high Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.710, which is the third highest in South Africa. Agriculture The bushveld is beef cattle country, where extensive ranching operations are often supplemented by controlled hunting. About 80% of South Africa's game hunting industry is in Limpopo. Sunflowers , cotton , maize and peanuts are cultivated in the Bela-Bela and Modimolle areas. Modimolle is also known for its table grapes . An embryotic wine industry is growing in Limpopo. Tropical fruit, such as bananas , litchis , pineapples , mangoes and pawpaws , as well as a variety of nuts , are grown in the Tzaneen and Louis Trichardt areas. Tzaneen is also at the centre of extensive citrus , tea , and coffee plantations and a major forestry industry. Most of the farmers and households lack a water supply. Therefore, they drill their boreholes on their premises. Housing Most Limpopo residents live in rural areas; this has led to a new phenomenon of rural development, where the residents have invested in building lavish homes on their tribal land. Limpopo rural houses have been profiled by TV channels, lifestyle vloggers, social media influencers, and Africa's biggest facts brand, Africa Facts Zone. According to 96.2% of Limpopo live in formal housing, above the national average of 84.0%. This makes Limpopo the province with the highest percentage of people living in formal housing in South Africa. Mining Ajoite in quartz , from the Messina mine, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Scale at bottom is one inch, with a rule at one cm. Limpopo's rich mineral deposits include the platinum group metals, iron ore, chromium, high- and middle-grade coking coal , diamonds, antimony , phosphate , and copper, as well as mineral reserves like gold, emeralds, scheelite , magnetite , vermiculite , silicon , and mica . Commodities such as black granite , corundum , and feldspar are also found. Mining contributes to over a fifth of the provincial economy. Limpopo has the largest platinum deposit in South Africa. The Waterberg Coalfield , the eastern extension of Botswana 's Mmamabula coalfields, is estimated to contain 40% of South Africa's coal reserves. Tourism The Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism has targeted the province as a preferred eco-tourism destination. Its Environment and Tourism Programme encompasses tourism, protected areas, and community environment development to achieve sustainable economic growth. While Limpopo is one of South Africa's poorest provinces, it is rich in wildlife, which gives it an advantage in attracting tourists. Both the private and public sectors are investing in tourism development. Near Modjadjiskloof , at Sunland Baobab farms, there is a large Baobab tree which has been fashioned into a relatively spacious pub. Transportation and communications The province has excellent road, rail, and air links. The N1 route from Johannesburg , which extends the length of the province, is the busiest overland route in Africa in terms of cross-border trade in raw materials and beneficiated goods. The port of Durban , South Africa's busiest, is served directly by the province, as are the ports of Richards Bay and Maputo . Polokwane International Airport is situated just north of Polokwane . Limpopo province contains approximately 56 airports and airstrips. Education The Department of Education is responsible for effecting quality education and training for all. The Department has to coordinate all professional development and support. Policies, systems, and procedures had to be developed. Educational institutions As of December 2020, 12.9% of the Limpopo population had attained some post-school qualifications. The following higher education institutions are found in Limpopo: University of Limpopo (Polokwane , Mankweng ) University of Venda (Thohoyandou ) Tshwane University of Technology (Polokwane Campus) Capricorn College for TVET (Seshego ) Capricorn College for TVET (Polokwane) Lephalale TVET College (Lephalale)[ Letaba TVET College (Tzaneen)[ Mopani South East TVET College (Phalaborwa) Sekhukhune TVET College (Motetema) Vhembe TVET College (Venda) Waterberg TVET College (Mokopane) Giyani Campus Of Nursing College Limpopo Province College of Nursing (Giyani Campus) Sports Association football : Polokwane was one of South Africa's host cities for the 2010 FIFA World Cup , with matches being played at the Peter Mokaba Stadium . Football clubs in the province include Real Rovers, Silver Stars, Black Leopards, Polokwane City, Baroka, Ria Stars, and Dynamos. Rugby union : Limpopo has no provincial rugby team of its own; it is represented in the domestic Currie Cup by the Pretoria -based Blue Bulls . The Blue Bulls also operate a Super Rugby franchise, known simply as the Bulls . Limpopo nonetheless produces its share of top players. Most notably, the two most-capped forwards in the history of the country's national team , John Smit and Victor Matfield , are both natives of Polokwane. Basketball : The province is home to Limpopo Pride , a professional team that plays in South Africa's top basketball division, the Basketball National League . Demographics The population of Limpopo consists of several ethnic groups distinguished by culture, language, and race. 97.3% of the population is Black , 2.4% is White , 0.2% is Coloured , and 0.1% is Indian /Asian . The province has the smallest percentage and second smallest total number of White South Africans in the country. However, there are several localities with a White majority, notably Hoedspruit and Modimolle . It also has the highest Black percentage out of all the provinces. The Northern Sotho people comprise the largest percentage of the population, 52% of the province. The Tsonga people comprise about 24.0% of the province; the Tsonga also comprise about 11.5% of Mpumalanga province since the southern part of their homeland, Gazankulu , was cut off from Limpopo and allocated to Mpumalanga. The Venda make up about 16.7%. Afrikaners make up the majority of Limpopo's White population, about 95,000 people; English -speaking Whites number just over 20,000. Vhembe district has the smallest share of White people in Limpopo, about 5,000 total. In contrast, the Waterberg district has the largest share of Whites, with more than 60,000 Whites residing there. Coloureds and Asians /Indians make up a tiny percentage of the province's total population. HIV / AIDS At 18.5% (2007), Limpopo has a relatively high incidence of HIV compared to other South African provinces. Cases rose from 14.5% to 21.5% between 2001 and 2005, with a slight fall between 2005 and 2007. However, as at 2019, the Limpopo province HIV stats sat at (13.2%) which is one of the lowest in comparison with other provinces in South Africa. BACK TO TOP

Stop Poachers Stop Wildlife Poachers in South Africa: South Africa is home to of the most diverse on the planet. From majestic lions and elephants to playful meerkats and penguins, there's something for everyone to enjoy. Whether you're a nature lover or just looking for a unique adventure, a trip to South Africa is sure to be an unforgettable experience. Click Here IRF works with local partner, Stop Rhino Poaching (SRP), to protect and grow the population of black and white rhinos through monitoring, anti-poaching efforts, and community involvement. South Africa accounts for about half of the total black rhino population on the African continent and is also home to the world’s largest population of white rhinos. Currently, 2,056 black rhinos and 12,968 white rhinos are estimated to remain for a total of more than 15,000. Poaching remains the largest threat to South Africa’s rhinos. In the first half of 2023, 231 rhino deaths were attributed to poaching. This is an 11% decrease from the first half of 2022, but there is still at least one rhino killed every single day in South Africa. Due to its large population of rhinos, expansive size (making it challenging to protect), a shared border with Mozambique and being surrounded by poor, heavily populated local communities, the Kruger National Park has been targeted by poachers since the current poaching crisis began in 2008. More recently though, poaching syndicates have increasingly shifted to other state, provincial and private reserves, especially in the KwaZulu-Natal province where the majority of rhinos have been killed this year. This could be because of the significant population declines reported for black and white rhinos in Kruger last year. Fewer rhinos makes poaching more difficult. That, combined with ongoing anti-poaching efforts and wide-scale dehorning in the Greater Kruger area, has led poachers to shift to hunting in other regions. View More Poaching of wildlife Since 2007, poaching of wildlife and in particular the poaching of White Rhinos, Black Rhinos and African Elephants, has been at the forefront of the conservation battle in southern Africa. The combination of increasing demand for rhino horn and ivory as well as high black market prices in Asian markets (especially Vietnam and China) has fuelled increase in poaching (Ferreira et al. 2014). South Africa has by far the largest population of rhinos in the world and is an incredibly important country for rhino conservation. From 2007–2014 South Africa experienced an exponential rise in rhino poaching — a growth of over 9,000%! Rhino horn has been used in traditional Asian medicine as a perceived cure for everything from cancer to hangovers, however the recent spike in demand has been driven by an increasing desire for rhino horn as a status symbol in Vietnam. Global education campaigns by WildAid in both China and Vietnam have been used in an attempt to educate those purchasing rhino horn and reduce demand. However the illegal trade in rhino horn continues to persist. In South Africa, around a quarter of the total population of rhino are found on private land. The owners of these reserves and game farms are increasingly hiring specialized companies that focus on the protection of wildlife and the apprehension of poachers Most illegal activity occurs in the Kruger National Park (KNP), which is 19,485 km2 (almost 2 million hectares) in size and lies on South Africa’s north-eastern border with Mozambique (Ferreira et al. 2014). The Kruger National Park consistently suffered heavy poaching loses, and so in the last few years the South African government and international donors have channelled ever more funding and resources into securing the Park. © Kirstin Scholtz The Kruger National Park is divided into three zones in terms of rhino concentration: The far north has the smallest population, which makes up approximately 26% of the total, south of the Olifants River. The majority of the rhino population is concentrated in the southern part of the Park. Sadly, since elephant poaching has started to escalate in the northern part of the Park, in addition to the rhino crisis in the southern part, the rangers are facing a huge challenge as response times to poaching incidents are critical. Poaching methods Snares The snares are mainly made of wire and tied to branches. A loop of the wire is positioned in such a way that if the animal walks on the game path, it will get its head caught in the loop, which tightens as it is pulled. The poacher sets snares at different levels and sizes depending on the animal’s size and species which he wishes to catch. However, when the snare is old or has fallen to the ground, it remains in the game path and can snare anything from a small steenbok to an animal as large as a giraffe. Predators such as lions, hyenas and leopards also get caught in snares. Poaching with dogs This form of poaching is a successful method, and very difficult to monitor. Those very experienced poachers tend to make use of the full moon to infiltrate farms whilst hunting with dogs. The poachers’ dogs are very well trained, moving silently and obediently through the bush. Poachers often walk with two sticks, tapping them in various ways to give orders to the dogs. The game caught is mainly warthogs. The poachers often build fires in the entrance to the warthog holes to smoke the animals out and then the dogs are trained to bring the warthog to the ground. During winter, the dogs are also used to chase bigger game (such as kudu, wildebeest, zebra) until exhaustion sets in. The game is weaker during this time because of the poor nutrient quality of the grass. Military style poaching of rhinos/elephants In recent decades, the poaching of rhinos and elephants has been executed with almost military style precision. Poachers are armed and dangerous and animals are usually killed with a gun or rifle, the horn or ivory is cut off, and it is rare that any other body parts are taken. Although the majority of poaching occurs during the night, there are also incidents happening during the day. Despite specific tendencies regarding poaching, such as that it sometimes happens more frequently during weekends and during the full moon, poachers adapt when there are operations during full moon and then focus their poaching activities during dark moon phases. Poachers adapt easily to changing circumstances. Skulls of poached rhinos Current rhino poaching figures (Department of Environmental Affairs 2017) In 2016, figures show a dip in poaching in South Africa for the second year in a row, indicating that increased protection efforts are paying off. Although it is encouraging to see South Africa’s poaching levels fall, the losses are still extremely high. A rise in incidents outside Kruger National Park also points to the growing sophistication of poaching gangs that are gaining a wider geographical coverage and, it would seem, expanding their operations across borders. Rhino poaching was declared a National Priority Crime in 2014 and the issue continues to receive the highest level of attention from the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), the country’s law-enforcement authorities, and the prosecution service (Department of Environmental Affairs 2017). A total of 414 alleged poachers have been arrested in South Africa since 1 January 2016 — of which 177 were in the KNP and 237 for the rest of the country. A total of 94 firearms have been seized inside the KNP between 1 January and 31 August 2016 (Department of Environmental Affairs 2017). Between January and the end of August 2016, a total number of 458 poached rhino carcasses were found in the KNP, compared to 557 in the same period in 2015. This represents a 17.8% decline in the number of rhino carcasses. Poaching rates, i.e. the number of carcasses as a percentage of the number of live rhinos estimated the previous September for each year, reduced by 15.5% compared between the same periods in 2015 (9.6% poaching rate) and 2016 (7.9% poaching rate). These figures come amidst a 27.87 % increase in the number of illegal incursions into the KNP — a staggering 2115 illegal incursions for the first eight months of 2016. Nationally, 702 rhino were poached since the beginning of 2016 whereas between January and July 2015, a total of 796 rhinos were poached. There may be indications however that the success of anti-poaching efforts in the KNP has led to poaching syndicates shifting operations to other provinces. In the period under review, the number of rhino poached has increased in a number of other provinces in comparison to the same period in 2015, such as KwaZulu-Natal, Free State Province and the Northern Cape Province. However, despite these increases there is still a downward trend in the number of rhino poached. It is also of concern that we have begun experiencing an increase in elephant poaching, despite the vigorous and determined efforts by game rangers, the police and soldiers on the ground. Since January 2016, 36 elephants have been poached in the KNP. The combined efforts of DEA, law-enforcement and the conservation agencies — with the support of international partners and donors, are slowly but steadily making a dent in the rhino poaching numbers. Figure 1 Rhino poaching figures for 2007–2016 (Department of Environmental Affairs 2017) Local communities must be involved in the fight against poaching It has become clear throughout Africa and the rest of the world that in order for conservation efforts to succeed local communities living in or near protected areas must and should be involved in conservation management decisions. Local communities must benefit from conservation. There is a passive involvement from the communities who are staying or operating in the surrounding areas of the Kruger, since they will often not report poachers to the authorities. The reason for this is that the money that is derived from poaching plays a vital role in the poor communities. The fact that the KNP does not really add value to the communities also plays a big role in their passivity — having a vast piece of land which is used for nature conservation neither benefits nor makes sense to them. A Committee of Inquiry (CoI) as appointed by the Minister of Environmental Affairs presented a report on rhino poaching at the 2016 CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) COP17 conference The CoI agreed there was an urgent need to improve both socio-economic conditions of rural communities neighbouring protected areas and their relationships with agencies managing protected areas, to develop a conducive environment for strong mutual partnerships around natural resource management and beneficiation. The CoI suggested the following minimum requirements to effectively address community empowerment: Functional municipalities around key protected areas to provide water, waste, sanitation, energy, roads, transport, education and health services through joint engagement by communities and conservation agencies with all relevant government departments; A Champion to be appointed to oversee Community Empowerment, in a permanent position with multi-departmental influence and funding, to develop and implement a Community Empowerment plan addressing these requirements which acknowledges past errors associated with protected area policies; Increased access to education and capacity building opportunities in these communities, specifically through a targeted Mentorship Programme to provide qualifications and develop advanced skills in conservation and protected area management for community members and entry into protected area management opportunities; In order to create real opportunities for local communities in the conservation and wildlife management space, and thus ensuring that they are less vulnerable to exploitation by poachers, the following steps need to be taken (and in some cases already are) (Department of Environmental Affairs 2013): Develop a reward or incentives system that supports the development of small businesses in communities to discourage them from becoming involved in poaching Capacity building within communities Identify and implement suitable community wildlife management projects Raise funding for the implementation of community-based programmes; Identify and support legitimate Rhino awareness campaigns Anti-poaching methods There is probably no single piece of technology that will be a game changer, but every item forms part of the solution. Rangers on the ground are still the most effective anti-poaching method, but what about the following: Rangers training at the South African Wildlife College Is rhino dehorning effective? Rhino dehorning has been used historically as a tool to reduce the threat of poaching in parts of southern Africa, and continues to be employed on a large-scale in Zimbabwe. Dehorning is contentious due to uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of the method at reducing poaching, and due to potential veterinary impacts and adverse effects on the behavioural ecology of rhinos. Historical and current use of dehorning (Endangered Wildlife Trust 2012) Rhino dehorning was first practiced in Namibia, in Damaraland and part of Etosha National Park, and was undertaken in the country from 1989 until 1995. In South Africa, dehorning appears to be practiced to an increasing extent in the private sector, and has been undertaken in provincial parks in Mpumalanga Province and in Rietvlei Dam Nature Reserve in Gauteng. Dehorning is not undertaken in the South African National Parks (SANParks, which includes Kruger) or in any other provincial reserves in South Africa. The positives of dehorning (Endangered Wildlife Trust 2012) In Mpumalanga, tentative insights from the dehorning programme in the provincial parks suggest that dehorning has caused a reduction in poaching losses. Mpumalanga has 1,071 rhinos (excluding those in Kruger) of which 347 have been dehorned. Mpumalanga province started dehorning in August 2010, though several private owners started well before then. In 2009, 2010 and 2011 (up to the end of August) 6, 17 and 10 rhinos were poached respectively, of which one was dehorned. In the Hoedspruit area, following the widespread dehorning of rhinos in mid- 2011, information was received by private landowners that a poaching group had decided to focus efforts on other areas where rhinos still retained their horns. However, rhino owners in that area acknowledge that it is too early to assess the efficacy of the dehorning programme. Most (71.7%) experts felt that dehorning can be an effective means of dissuading poachers from targeting a particular reserve, but 52.6% felt that once a poacher was in a reserve, he would be no less likely to shoot a dehorned rhino if such an animal was encountered, than a horned individual. The negatives of dehorning (Endangered Wildlife Trust 2012) In Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, dehorning of White Rhinos in the early 1990s failed to protect them (as the majority of horned and dehorned rhinos were killed by poachers) due to a complete lapse in security for a period of six months 12–18 months after the rhinos were dehorned. In South Africa, at least five incidents have been recorded of dehorned rhinos being killed by poachers since 2008. In one incident, a horned rhino was wounded by poachers, and then dehorned by management and placed in a boma, where poachers returned to kill the animal despite clearly being able to see that the animal was dehorned (F. Coetzee, pers. comm.). These experiences clearly highlight that dehorning in the absence of intensive security is likely to be ineffective, and stresses that horn stumps are still valuable to poachers. Dehorning partially transfers the risk of horn possession from rhinos to the land manager, and creates administrative burdens and costs through the time and effort needed to acquire permits, transport and storage of horns. The permitting system for possessing, transporting and storing horn is considered by private rhino owners to be onerous and to impose security risks by providing a conduit for leakage of information on the whereabouts of horns or on planned transportation of horns. © Shannon Wild The effectiveness of remotely piloted aircraft systems in the fight against poaching A study by Mulero-Pazmany et al. (2014) assessed the use of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) to monitor for poaching activities. They performed 20 flights with 3 types of cameras: visual photo, HD video and thermal video, to test the ability of the systems to detect (a) rhinos, (b) people acting as poachers and © to do fence surveillance. The targets were better detected at the lowest altitudes, but to operate the plane safely and in a discreet way, altitudes between 100 and 180 m were the most convenient. Open areas facilitated target detection, while forest habitats complicated it. Detectability using visual cameras was higher at morning and midday, but the thermal camera provided the best images in the morning and at night. Considering not only the technical capabilities of the systems but also the poachers’ modus operandi and the current control methods, Mulero-Pazmany et al. (2014) proposed RPAS usage as a tool for surveillance of sensitive areas, for supporting field anti-poaching operations, as a deterrent tool for poachers and as a complementary method for rhino ecology research. Low cost RPAS can be useful for rhino stakeholders for field control procedures. There are, however, important practical limitations that should be considered for their successful and realistic integration in the anti-poaching battle. Anti-poaching Units The game rangers and anti-poaching units that patrol the Greater Kruger area spend most of their time out in the field, in harm’s way and away from home and their families. Their families do not always know when they will get to see them again. The rangers’ stress levels are high and, as one can imagine, it is not always easy for their families. Anti-poaching units in the Hoedspruit area The Black Mambas The Black Mambas are all-women anti-poaching unit. They are all young women from local communities, and they patrol inside the Greater Kruger national park unarmed. Billed as the first all-female unit of its kind in the world, they are not just challenging poachers, but the status quo. The Black Mamba anti-poaching unit is a great example of utilising people from the local communities, getting them involved in conservation, providing them with employment, and upliftment. The Black Mamba anti-poaching unit was founded in 2013 by Transfrontier Africa and created to protect the Olifants West Region of Balule Nature Reserve and has since expanded to cover the entire Balule area, 400km². The private reserve’s scientists and managers have had to become warriors, employing teams of game guards to protect not only the rhinos but lions, giraffes, and many other species targeted by poaching syndicates. The Mambas are the reserve’s eyes and ears on the ground. The anti-poaching statistics for the area suggest the Black Mamba approach works. During the last 10 months of 2014 and the start of 2015 the Balule Nature Reserve had not lost a single rhino, while a neighbouring reserve lost 23. Snare poaching has also by dropped 90%. ProTrack Anti-Poaching Unit Protrack Anti-Poaching Unit was established in 1992 as one of the first private anti-poaching units in South Africa. They provide anti-poaching training and recruitment in the Hoedspruit area. They also provide specialist rural security services to farms and nature reserves. Rhino Revolution Rhino Revolution was started by the concerned citizens of Hoedspruit, including conservationists and private nature reserve owners, who came together to try and reduce the escalating poaching crisis in this critically important rhino conservation area. They started as a community based action group, under the auspices of founder Trevor Jordan. Rhino Revolution is now an internationally recognised Non-Profit Organization. Rhino Revolution supports rhino conservation through rigorous anti-poaching activities, conservation awareness programmes and the provision of a world class rhino orphanage (situated within the Blue Canyon Conservancy, with electric fencing, lighting, intruder alarm systems and watch towers with 24 hour armed guards.). Rhino Revolution’s anti-poaching efforts: Rhino Revolution has provided night vision equipment for Hoedspruit Farm Watch, provided a new anti-poaching vehicle for the Blue Canyon Anti-Poaching Unit together with radios, weapons and ammunition and, installed solar power at the Essem Scout Camp. Rhino Revolution also funds dehorning of rhino. Rhino Revolution uses retired racehorses for anti-poaching patrols, as the mounted guards can reach areas inaccessible to vehicles, quickly and silently, and efficiently look out for any signs of criminal intent from the elevated field of vision that horseback patrols offer. Key factors in rhino security The following components are essential for effective anti-poaching security for rhinos (Endangered Wildlife Trust 2012): Undertake a thorough threat analysis of property: Evaluate all possible threats (e.g. know the most likely entry and exit points, know the locations of rhinos [see field monitoring below]). Prepare response plans for as many eventualities as possible. Secure the property: Electrified fencing that is monitored and maintained. Control entry points onto property with guarded boom gates. Field protection: Rangers must be well trained in weapons, anti-poaching tactics and drills. Rangers must be well equipped, with: assault rifles (AK47 or equivalent) Handheld radios, spare batteries Backpacks, water bottles, rations Maps, GPS devices, binoculars Rangers must be authorised and empowered to aggressively respond to and engage poachers when necessary and have indemnity against legal proceedings in the same way that police do. Rangers should be adequately paid and rewarded to maintain motivation (and avoid collusion with poachers). But, the reward system must be sustainable. Ranger density should be: minimum of 1 ranger for every 20 km2 but under conditions of high poaching threat: 1 ranger for every 10 km2 is recommended. In large reserves: concentrate Rangers where rhinos occur. In large reserves (>200 km2) there should be a mobile anti-poaching reaction unit with rapid deployment capabilities — set up in picket camps situated in peripheral high risk areas. There should be routine patrols around fences and buffer zones for the early detection of poacher incursions, as well as at sites where poachers will focus attention (e.g. water points, vantage points good for surveillance). Field monitoring: auxiliary staff well trained in tracking and identifying rhinos (to allow rapid detection of poaching) should be deployed. Monitoring of rhinos should proceed with the use of standardised field recording booklets and a density of at least 1 ranger per 20 rhinos Rhinos should be ear-notched to facilitate individual identification and to provide accurate and unbiased population estimates of population performance Africa is home to the world's most wildlife. It’s a grim and all too common sight for rangers at some of Africa’s nature reserves: the bullet-riddled carcass of an elephant, its tusks removed by poachers. African elephant populations have fallen by about 30% since 2006 . Poaching has driven the decline. Some reserves, like Garamba in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Selous in Tanzania, have lost hundreds of elephants to poachers over the last decade. But others, like Etosha National Park in Namibia, have been targeted far less. What might explain this difference? That’s what we set out to explore in our new paper . We investigated why poaching rates vary so widely across Africa and what this might reveal about what drives, motivates and facilitates poaching. To do this, we used a statistical model to relate poaching levels from 64 African sites to various socio-economic factors. These included a country’s quality of governance and the level of human development in the area surrounding a park. Our findings suggest that poaching rates are lower where there is strong national governance and where local levels of human development – especially wealth and health – are relatively high. Strong site-level law enforcement and reduced global ivory prices also keep poaching levels down. ​ Understanding these dynamics is crucial. The illegal wildlife trade is one of the highest value illicit trade sectors globally , worth several billion dollars each year. It poses a major threat to biodiversity and ecosystems, which are the bedrock of human well-being . And elephants are more than just a culturally significant icon. They are “ecosystem engineers ” that can boost forest carbon stocks and diversify habitats through their feeding. Their presence in national parks and reserves also has economic benefits, bringing in valuable tourism revenues . The deaths of both poachers and rangers in the continent’s violent biodiversity “war” also underscores our findings: when elephants lose, we all lose. Data collection We developed a statistical model using 19 years of data on 10,286 poached elephants at 64 sites in 30 African countries. These data were collected, mostly by wildlife rangers, as part of the global programme for Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) , administered by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Rangers are the real champions of this research, working under difficult conditions to protect elephants and other biodiversity. Photo: Tim Kuiper. We then linked the poaching data to key socio-economic data related to areas around the parks, individual countries and global markets. Poaching of high-value species like elephants and rhinos is driven primarily by sophisticated criminal syndicates . So we used criminology theory and evidence from the scientific literature to generate hypotheses about factors that might drive, facilitate or motivate the decisions of these syndicates and the local hunters they recruited. We then identified datasets representing these factors, such as the Uppsala Armed Conflict Dataset and the Global Data Lab’s Subnational Human Development index . Elephant Poachers Take Aim at South Africa’s Famed Refuge Recent elephant killings in Kruger National Park raise fears that South Africa is now in the crosshairs of the illegal ivory trade. ​ After years of being regarded as an unassailable haven for wildlife, South Africa’s iconic Kruger National Park has been hit by elephant poaching. In May 2014, the first killing of an elephant for its tusks in ten years was reported in the park. By mid-October 2015, 19 Kruger elephants had been killed for ivory. Twelve of those were killed in September and October alone. This prompted several prominent conservationists to warn that South Africa’s parks are at high risk of being targeted for ivory in the near future. “South Africa can expect elephant poaching to increase dramatically in the Kruger Park,” said wildlife filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Dereck Joubert. Has the elephant poaching epidemic that has plagued other African countries in recent years now overtaken South Africa? South Africa can expect elephant poaching to increase dramatically in the Kruger Park. Dereck Joubert, conservationist Since 2008, Kruger has been a target for rhino poachers, who mainly come from across the border in Mozambique. Some 800 rhinos were killed in South Africa for their horns between January and September of this year, bringing the total to 4,635 rhinos killed since 2007. That’s nearly a fifth of the continent-wide population. Kruger had some 17,000 elephants in 2014, according to Sam Ferreira, the park’s large mammal ecologist. Most of the elephants killed this year have been in the northern Pafuri area, bordering Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Elephant populations in both countries have experienced heavy casualties of late. Mozambique has lost half its elephants during the past five years, according to recent data from the ongoing Great Elephant Census , an observation study funded by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen's investment company, Vulcan Inc., to count more than 90 percent of the world's elephants. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe is reeling from a spate of macabre elephant poisonings by cyanide. According to a recent genetic study , most of the poached ivory has been coming from Tanzania, northern Mozambique, and central Africa. With elephants becoming scarcer in these countries, the poaching scourge has nowhere to go but south. South African authorities have anticipated that elephant poaching was going to “hit us like an avalanche as early as January next year,” Hector Magome, of conservation services at South African National Parks (SANparks), told Business Day last year. “Given what is going on in the rest of Africa, it is inevitable that South Africa’s elephants will eventually be targeted.” Poachers shot this rhino in Kruger in November 2013. More than 4,600 rhinos have been killed in South Africa for their horns since 2007, and only about 25,000 of the animals are left in the wild in Africa. Photograph by Alet Pretorius, Foto24/Gallo Images/Getty Making matters worse is the fact that the ivory trade “appears to be professionalising fast, with heavy involvement of police, border guard and political criminal networks,” according to a report published last year by the animal advocacy group Born Free USA. “Given the ease of rhino poaching in South Africa,” the report says, “fears of serious, professionalised ivory poaching in the Kruger Park are well founded.” Referring to the elephant poaching epidemic elsewhere in the continent, William Mabasa, a Kruger spokesman, said, “We cannot allow this destabilization of our keystone species to continue further.” Heads in the Sand? Not everyone agrees that elephant poaching is going to be a serious problem for Kruger, but if the rhino situation is any indicator, things need to be monitored closely. Mabasa says he’s “confident that the dedication and efforts which our rangers and partners in the security sector have displayed towards the fight against rhino will prevail over this latest problem.” Zimbabwe is reeling from macabre elephant poisonings by cyanide. South Africa’s environment minister Edna Molewa hasn’t expressed much concern about elephant poaching. Last year, she said, “We did an ivory once-off sale, and elephant poaching has not been a problem since.” The sale occurred in July 2008, when China and Japan were given permission by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the international organization that regulates the wildlife trade, to buy 108 tons of ivory from four southern African countries. In those countries—Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa—elephant populations were regarded as relatively healthy and well managed. Contrary to the minister’s views, it is widely held that the sale has fueled the current poaching crisis. A 2008 report by the Environmental Investigation Agency, a nonprofit headquartered in London, showed that demand for ivory increased every year after an earlier experimental sale, in 1999, to Japan—and that it spiked after the 2008 sale. At the 2008 sale, China and Japan paid an average of $71 per pound ($157 per kilo) from the southern African states. Since then, the price of ivory China sells from its legal stockpile has increased almost tenfold, to $681 per pound ($1,500 per kilo). Michelle Henley, principal researcher for Elephants Alive, a research group that has collected data on Kruger’s elephant populations for more than two decades, said that until now poachers have targeted the “higher value of rhino horn compared to ivory, which seems to have lulled many into a false sense of security.” She said her research team had predicted that “it would be only a matter of time before poachers would turn to elephants for ivory.” Slide Title This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content. BACK TO TOP

Wildlife Backgrounds and Glitters South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of Africa. It is divided into nine provinces and has 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline. To the north lie the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe; to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland; while Lesotho is an enclave surrounded by South African territory. South Africa is the 25th largest country in the world by area and the 24th most populous country with over 51 million people. South Africa has a large variety of wildlife, including snakes, birds, plains animals, and predators. The country has 299 species of mammals and 858 species of birds. In Africa, the big five game animals are lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, leopard, and rhinoceros.The term big five game sometimes capitalized or quoted as "Big Five" was coined by big-game hunters and refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot. Subsequently the term was adopted by safari tour operators for marketing purposes.The term is still used in most tourist and wildlife guides that discuss African wildlife safaris. Wildlife Backgrounds and Glitters Riseingsouthernstar-africa Wallpaper This site is dedicated to providing free animal print wallpaper for royalty free use. Animal wallpapers come in all different patters, including Zebra, Leopard, Cheetah,Snakeskin,and Land Scapes almost any animal print you want you can find here to download for your computer desktop wallpaper for free.. Wallpapers are one of the best things you can use to customize your desktop well. In one way or the other, it somehow influences our mood as we look at it, it may inspire you to do better or just help you relax for a while. In any ways, these wallpapers can help in personalizing your desktop background... Download a new desktop background from a series of photos that utilize vivid color to highlight the power of photography. In this post we will be showcasing Free Adorable Animal Wallpapers. In this collection we have gathered yet another set of wallpapers featuring some of the charming animals from domestic to exotic ones. These are all for free to download for your personal use. Why don’t you take a peek and choose your pick. SOUTH AFRICAN SUNSET WALLPAPER / BACKGROUNDS WILDLIFE ANIMAL WALLPAPER / BACKGROUNDS ​ SOUTH AFRICAN LAND SCAPE WALLPAPER / BACKGROUNDS MIXED WILDLIFE WALLPAPER / BACKGROUNDS ​ LION AND SUNSET WALLPAPER / BACKGROUNDS ANIMAL BACKGROUNDS / WALLPAPER ANIMAL SKINS BACKGROUNDS / WALLPAPER ANIMAL SKINS BACKGROUNDS / WALLPAPER ​ ANIMATED SUNSET MIRROR PICTURES... Wildlife Backgrounds and Glitters Wildlife Backgrounds and Glitters Riseingsouthernstar-africa Wallpaper This site is dedicated to providing free animal print wallpaper for royalty free use. Animal wallpapers come in all different patters, including Zebra, Leopard, Cheetah,Snakeskin,and Land Scapes almost any animal print you want you can find here to download for your computer desktop wallpaper for free.. Wallpapers are one of the best things you can use to customize your desktop well. In one way or the other, it somehow influences our mood as we look at it, it may inspire you to do better or just help you relax for a while. In any ways, these wallpapers can help in personalizing your desktop background... Download a new desktop background from a series of photos that utilize vivid color to highlight the power of photography. In this post we will be showcasing Free Adorable Animal Wallpapers. In this collection we have gathered yet another set of wallpapers featuring some of the charming animals from domestic to exotic ones. These are all for free to download for your personal use. Why don’t you take a peek and choose your pick. BACK TO TOP

AFRIKAANER BOERE VOORTREKKERS The Afrikaner, Boer, and Voortrekkers are all groups of people from South Africa with unique histories and cultures. The Afrikaner are descendants of Dutch, German, and French settlers who arrived in South Africa in the 17th century. The Boer are descendants of Afrikaner farmers who migrated inland during the 19th century. The Voortrekkers were a group of Boer pioneers who embarked on a mass migration known as the Great Trek in the 1830s. DIE AFRIKAANER Afrikaners (Afrikaans: are a Southern African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652. Until 1994, they dominated South Africa's politics as well as the country's commercial agricultural sector.[ Afrikaners make up approximately 5.2% of the total South African population, based upon the number of White South Africans who speak Afrikaans as a first language in the South African National Census of 2011. Afrikaans , South Africa's third most widely spoken home language, evolved as the mother tongue of Afrikaners and most Cape Coloureds. Afrikaans as a formal language originated from the Dutch vernacular of South Holland,incorporating numerous terms and words brought from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and Madagascar by slaves. The arrival of Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama at Calicut, India, in 1498 opened a gateway of free access to Asia from Western Europe around the Cape of Good Hope; however, it also necessitated the founding and safeguarding of trade stations in the East. The Portuguese landed in Mossel Bay in 1500, explored Table Bay two years later, and by 1510 had started raiding inland. Shortly afterwards, the Dutch Republic sent merchant vessels to India and, in 1602, founded the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie; VOC). As the volume of traffic rounding the Cape increased, the VOC recognised its natural harbour as an ideal watering point for the long voyage around Africa to the Orient and established a victualling station there in 1652. VOC officials did not favour the permanent settlement of Europeans in their trading empire, although during the 140 years of Dutch rule many VOC servants retired or were discharged and remained as private citizens. Furthermore, the exigencies of supplying local garrisons and passing fleets compelled the administration to confer free status on employees and oblige them to become independent farmers. Encouraged by the success of this experiment, the company extended free passage from 1685 to 1707 for Dutch families wishing to settle at the Cape. In 1688, it sponsored the settlement of 200 French Huguenot refugees forced into exile by the Edict of Fontainebleau. The terms under which the Huguenots agreed to immigrate were the same as those offered to other VOC subjects, including free passage and the requisite farm equipment on credit. Prior attempts at cultivating vineyards or exploiting olive groves for fruit had been unsuccessful, and it was hoped that Huguenot colonists accustomed to Mediterranean agriculture could succeed where the Dutch had failed. They were augmented by VOC soldiers returning from Asia, predominantly Germans channeled into Amsterdam by the company's extensive recruitment network and thence overseas. Despite their diverse nationalities, the colonists used a common language and adopted similar attitudes towards politics. The attributes they shared served as a basis for the evolution of Afrikaner identity and consciousness. In the twentieth century, Afrikaner nationalism took the form of political parties and closed societies, such as the Broederbond. In 1914, the National Party was founded to promote Afrikaner interests.[9] It gained power by winning South Africa's 1948 general elections. The party was noted for implementing a harsh policy of racial segregation (apartheid) and declaring South Africa a republic in 1961. Following decades of domestic unrest and international sanctions that resulted in bilateral and multi-party negotiations to end apartheid, South Africa held its first multiracial elections under a universal franchise in 1994. As a result of this election the National Party was ousted from power, and was eventually dissolved in 2005. Nomenclature The term "Afrikaner" (formerly sometimes in the forms Afrikaander or Afrikaaner, from the Dutch Africaander currently denotes the politically, culturally, and socially dominant and majority group need quotation to verify] among white South Africans, or the Afrikaans-speaking population of Dutch origin. Their original progenitors, especially in paternal lines, also included smaller numbers of Flemish, French Huguenot, German, Danish, Norwegian, Swiss, and Swedish immigrants. Historically, the terms "burgher" and "Boer" have both been used to describe white Afrikaans-speakers as a group; neither is particularly objectionable, but "Afrikaner" has been considered a more appropriate term. By the late nineteenth century, the term was in common usage in both the Boer republics and the Cape Colony. At one time, burghers denoted Cape Dutch: those settlers who were influential in the administration, able to participate in urban affairs, and did so regularly. Boers often refer to settled ethnic European farmers or nomadic cattleherders. During the Batavian Republic of 1795–1806, burgher ('citizen') was popularised[by whom?] among Dutch communities both at home and abroad as a popular revolutionary form of address. In South Africa, it remained in use as late as the Second Boer War of 1899–1902. The first recorded instance of a colonist identifying as an Afrikaner occurred in March 1707, during a disturbance in Stellenbosch. When the magistrate, Johannes Starrenburg, ordered an unruly crowd to desist, a young white man named Hendrik Biebouw retorted, "Ik wil niet loopen, ik ben een Afrikaander – al slaat de landdrost mij dood, of al zetten hij mij in de tronk, ik zal, nog wil niet zwijgen!" ("I will not leave, I am an African – even if the magistrate were to beat me to death or put me in jail, I shall not be, nor will I stay, silent!"). Biebouw was flogged for his insolence and later banished to Batavia[ (present-day Jakarta, Indonesia). The word Afrikaner is thought to have first been used to classify Cape Coloureds, or other groups of mixed-race ancestry. Biebouw had numerous "half-caste" (mixed race) siblings and may have identified with Coloureds socially. The growing use of the term appeared to express the rise of a new identity for white South Africans, suggesting for the first time a group identification with the Cape Colony rather than with an ancestral homeland in Europe. Afrikaner culture and people are also commonly referred to as the Afrikaans or Afrikaans people. For the years 1985–2011, the census statistics show the number of Afrikaans-speaking whites. Considering that there could be a significant number of English-speaking Afrikaners (especially after 2001), the numbers could be higher. VOC initially had no intention of establishing a permanent European settlement at the Cape of Good Hope ; until 1657, it devoted as little attention as possible to the development or administration of the Dutch Cape Colony . From the VOC's perspective, there was little financial incentive to regard the region as anything more than the site of a strategic manufacturing centre. Furthermore, the Cape was unpopular among VOC employees, who regarded it as a barren and insignificant outpost with little opportunity for advancement. A small number of longtime VOC employees who had been instrumental in the colony's founding and its first five years of existence, however, expressed interest in applying for grants of land with the objective of retiring at the Cape as farmers. In time, they came to form a class of former VOC employees, vrijlieden, also known as vrijburgers (free citizens," who stayed in Dutch territories overseas after serving their contracts. The vrijburgers were to be of Dutch birth (although exceptions were made for some Germans), married, "of good character", and had to undertake to spend at least twenty years in Southern Africa. In March 1657, when the first vrijburgers started receiving their farms, the white population of the Cape was only about Although the soil and climate in Cape Town were suitable for farming, willing immigrants remained in short supply, including a number of orphans, refugees, and foreigners. From 1688 onward, the Cape attracted some French Huguenots, most of them refugees from the protracted conflict between Protestants and Catholics in France. South Africa's white population in 1691 has been described as the Afrikaner "parent stock", as no significant effort was made to secure more colonist families after the dawn of the 18th century,[9] and a majority of Afrikaners are descended from progenitors who arrived prior to 1700 in general and the late 1600s in particular. Although some two-thirds of this figure were Dutch-speaking Hollanders, there were at least 150 Huguenots and a nearly equal number of Low German speakers. Also represented in smaller numbers were Swedes, Danes, and Belgians ​ DIE BOER Boers Afrikaans : Boere ([ˈbuːrə] ) are the descendants of the proto Afrikaans -speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier[2] in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled Dutch Cape Colony , but the United Kingdom incorporated it into the British Empire in 1806. The name of the group is derived from Trekboer then later "boer", which means "farmer" in Dutch and Afrikaans. In addition, the term Boeren also applied to those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to colonise in the Orange Free State , Transvaal (together known as the Boer Republics ), and to a lesser extent Natal . They emigrated from the Cape to live beyond the reach of the British colonial administration, with their reasons for doing so primarily being the new Anglophone common law system being introduced into the Cape and the British abolition of slavery in 1833. The term Afrikaners or Afrikaans people is generally used in modern-day South Africa for the white Afrikaans-speaking population of South Africa (the largest group of White South Africans ) encompassing the descendants of both the Boers, and the Cape Dutch who did not embark on the Great Trek . ​ Origin European colonists Flag of the Dutch East India Company The Dutch East India Company (Dutch : Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie; VOC) was formed in the Dutch Republic in 1602, and at this time the Dutch had entered the competition for the colonial and imperial trade of commerce in Southeast Asia. The end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648 saw European soldiers and refugees widely dispersed across Europe. Immigrants from Germany, Scandinavia, and Switzerland traveled to the Netherlands in the hope of finding employment with the VOC. During the same year, one of their ships was stranded in Table Bay near what would eventually become Cape Town , and the shipwrecked crew had to forage for themselves on shore for several months. They were so impressed with the natural resources of the country that on their return to the Republic, they represented to the VOC directors the great advantages to be had for the Dutch Eastern trade from a properly provided and fortified station at the Cape. As a result, the VOC sent a Dutch expedition in 1652 led by Jan van Riebeek , who constructed a fort and laid out vegetable gardens at Table Bay and took control over Cape Town, which he governed for a decade. Free Burghers Main article: Free Burghers VOC favoured the idea of freemen at the Cape and many workers of VOC requested to be discharged in order to become free burghers. As a result Jan van Riebeeck approved the notion on favourable conditions and earmarked two areas near the Liesbeek River for farming purposes in 1657. The two areas which were allocated to the freemen, for agricultural purposes, were named Groeneveld and Dutch Garden. These areas were separated by the Amstel River (Liesbeek River). Nine of the best applicants were selected to use the land for agricultural purposes. The freemen or free burghers as they were afterwards termed, thus became subjects of VOC and were no longer its servants. In 1671, the Dutch first purchased land from the indigenous Khoikhoi beyond the limits of the fort built by Van Riebeek; this marked the development of the Colony proper . As the result of the investigations of a 1685 commissioner, the government worked to recruit a greater variety of immigrants to develop a stable community. They formed part of the class of vrijlieden, also known as vrijburgers ('free citizens'), former VOC employees who remained at the Cape after serving their contracts.[10] A large number of vrijburgers became independent farmers and applied for grants of land, as well as loans of seed and tools, from VOC administration. Dutch free immigrants VOC authorities had been endeavouring to induce gardeners and small farmers to emigrate from Europe to South Africa, but with little success. They were only able to attract a few families through tales of wealth, but the Cape had little charm in comparison. In October 1670, however, the Chamber of Amsterdam announced that a few families were willing to leave for the Cape and Mauritius during the following December. Among the new names of burghers at this time are Jacob and Dirk van Niekerk, Johannes van As, Francois Villion, Jacob Brouwer, Jan van Eden, Hermanus Potgieter, Albertus Gildenhuis, and Jacobus van den Berg. French Huguenots During 1688–1689, the colony was greatly strengthened by the arrival of nearly two hundred French Huguenots , who were political refugees from the religious wars in France following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes . They joined colonies at Stellenbosch , Drakenstein , Franschhoek and Paarl . The influence of the Huguenots on the character of the colonists was marked, leading to the VOC directing in 1701 that only Dutch should be taught in schools. This resulted in the Huguenots assimilating by the middle of the 18th century, with a loss in the use and knowledge of French . The colony gradually spread eastwards, and in 1754 land as far as Algoa Bay was included in the colony. At this time the European colonists numbered eight to ten thousand. They possessed numerous slaves, grew wheat in sufficient quantity to make it a commodity crop for export, and were famed for the good quality of their wines . But their chief wealth was in cattle. They enjoyed considerable prosperity. Through the latter half of the 17th and the whole of the 18th century, troubles arose between the colonists and the government as the VOC administration was despotic . Its policies were not directed at development of the colony, but to using it to profit the VOC. VOC closed the colony against free immigration, kept the whole of the trade in its own hands, combined the administrative, legislative and judicial powers in one body, prescribed to the farmers the nature of the crops they were to grow, demanded a large part of their produce as a kind of tax, and made other exactions. Trekboers Main article: Trekboers This section needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message ) From time to time, indentured VOC servants were endowed with the right of freeburghers but the VOC retained the power to compel them to return into its service whenever they deemed it necessary. This right to force into servitude those who might incur the displeasure of the governor or other high officers was not only exercised with reference to the individuals themselves; it was claimed by the government to be applicable to their children as well. The tyranny caused many to feel desperate and to flee from oppression, even before 1700 trekking began. In 1780, Joachim van Plettenberg , the governor, proclaimed the Sneeuberge to be the northern boundary of the colony, expressing "the anxious hope that no more extension should take place, and with heavy penalties forbidding the rambling peasants to wander beyond". In 1789, so strong had feelings amongst the burghers become that delegates were sent from the Cape to interview the authorities at Amsterdam . After this deputation, some nominal reforms were granted. Descending from the Sneeuberge, a scene near Graaff-Reinet , by Burchell Passing Cradock Pass, Outeniqua Mountains , by Charles Collier Michell An aquatint by Samuel Daniell of Trekboers making camp Trekboers crossing the Karoo by Charles Davidson Bell It was largely to escape oppression that the farmers trekked farther and farther from the seat of government. VOC, to control the emigrants, established a magistracy at Swellendam in 1745 and another at Graaff Reinet in 1786. The Gamtoos River had been declared, c. 1740, the eastern frontier of the colony but it was soon passed. In 1780, however, the Dutch, to avoid collision with the Bantu peoples , agreed with them to make the Great Fish River the common boundary. In 1795 the heavily taxed burghers of the frontier districts, who were afforded no protection against the Bantus, expelled the VOC officials, and set up independent governments at Swellendam and Graaff Reinet. The trekboers of the 19th century were the lineal descendants of the trekboers of the 18th century. The end of the 19th century saw a revival of the same tyrannical monopolist policy as that in the VOC government in the Transvaal . If the formula, "In all things political, purely despotic; in all things commercial, purely monopolist", was true of the VOC government in the 18th century, it was equally true of Kruger 's government in the latter part of the 19th. The underlying fact which made the trek possible is that the Dutch-descended colonists in the eastern and northeastern parts of the colony were not cultivators of the soil, but of purely pastoral and nomadic habits, ever ready to seek new pastures for their flocks and herds, possessing no special affection for any particular locality. These people, thinly scattered over a wide territory, had lived for so long with little restraint from the law that when, in 1815, by the institution of "Commissions of Circuit", justice was brought nearer to their homes, various offences were brought to light, the remedying of which caused much resentment. The Dutch-descended colonists in the eastern and northeastern parts of the colony, as a result of the Great Trek , had removed themselves from governmental rule and become widely spread out. However, the institution of "Commissions of Circuit" in 1815 allowed the prosecution of crimes, with offences committed by the trekboers—notably including many against people they had enslaved—seeing justice. These prosecutions were very unpopular amongst the trekkers and were seen as interfering with their rights over the enslaved people they viewed as their property. A map of the expansion of the Trekboers (1700–1800) Evolution of the Dutch Cape Colony (1700–1800) Administrative divisions of the Dutch Cape Colony Invasion of the Cape Colony Main article: Invasion of the Cape Colony The Invasion of the Cape Colony was a British military expedition launched in 1795 against the Dutch Cape Colony at the Cape of Good Hope . The Netherlands had fallen under the revolutionary government of France and a British force under General Sir James Henry Craig was sent to Cape Town to secure the colony from the French for the Prince of Orange , a refugee in England. The governor of Cape Town at first refused to obey the instructions from the Prince, but when the British proceeded to land troops to take possession anyway, he capitulated. His action was hastened by the fact that the Khoikhoi, escaping from their former enslavers, flocked to the British standard. The burghers of Graaff Reinet did not surrender until a force had been sent against them; in 1799 and again in 1801 they rose in revolt. In February 1803, as a result of the peace of Amiens (February 1803), the colony was handed over to the Batavian Republic which introduced many reforms, as had the British during their eight years' rule. One of the first acts of General Craig had been to abolish torture in the administration of justice. The country still remained essentially Dutch, and few British citizens were attracted to it. Its cost to the British exchequer during this period was £ 16,000,000. The Batavian Republic entertained very liberal views as to the administration of the country, but had little opportunity to enact them. When the War of the Third Coalition broke out in 1803, a British force was once again sent to the Cape. After an engagement (January 1806) on the shores of Table Bay, the Dutch garrison of Castle of Good Hope surrendered to the British under Sir David Baird , and in the 1814 Anglo-Dutch treaty the colony was ceded outright by The Netherlands to the British crown . At that time the colony extended to the line of mountains guarding the vast central plateau, then called Bushmansland (after a name for the San people ), and had an area of about 120,000 sq. m. and a population of some 60,000, of whom 27,000 were whites, 17,000 free Khoikhoi and the rest enslaved people, mostly non-indigenous blacks and Malays. Dislike of British rule Although the colony was fairly prosperous, many of the Dutch farmers were as dissatisfied with British rule as they had been with that of the VOC, though their grounds for complaint were not the same. In 1792, Moravian missions had been established which targeted the Khoikhoi, and in 1799 the London Missionary Society began work among both Khoikhoi and Bantu peoples. The missionaries' championing of Khoikhoi grievances caused much dissatisfaction among the majority of the Dutch colonists, whose views temporarily prevailed, for in 1812 an ordinance was issued which empowered magistrates to bind Khoikhoi children as apprentices under conditions which differed little from slavery . Simultaneously, the movement for the abolition of slavery was gaining strength in England, and the missionaries appealed from the colonists to the mother country. Slachter's Nek A farmer named Frederick Bezuidenhout refused to obey a summons issued on the complaint of a Khoikhoi, and, firing on the party sent to arrest him, was killed by the return fire. This caused a small rebellion in 1815, known as Slachters Nek , described as "the most insane attempt ever made by a set of men to wage war against their sovereign" by Henry Cloete. Upon its suppression, five ringleaders were publicly hanged at the spot where they had sworn to expel "the English tyrants". The feeling caused by the hanging of these men was deepened by the circumstances of the execution, as the scaffold on which the rebels were simultaneously hanged broke down from their united weight and the men were afterwards hanged one by one. An ordinance was passed in 1827, abolishing the old Dutch courts of landdrost and heemraden (resident magistrates being substituted) and establishing that henceforth all legal proceedings should be conducted in English. The granting in 1828, as a result of the representations of the missionaries, of equal rights with whites to the Khoikhoi and other free coloured people, the imposition (1830) of heavy penalties for harsh treatment of enslaved people, and finally the emancipation of the enslaved people in 1834, were measures which combined to aggravate the farmers' dislike of government. Moreover, what these enslavers viewed as the inadequate compensation for the freeing of the enslaved people, and the suspicions engendered by the method of payment, caused much resentment; and in 1835 the farmers again removed themselves to unknown country to escape the government. While emigration beyond the colonial border had been continuous for 150 years, it now took on larger proportions. Cape Frontier Wars (1779–1879) Main article: Xhosa Wars Map of the Cape Colony in 1809, early British rule The migration of the trekboers from the Cape Colony into the Eastern Cape parts of South Africa, where the native Xhosa people had established settlements, gave rise to a series of conflicts between the Boers and the Xhosas. In 1775 the Cape government established a boundary between the trekboers and the Xhosas at the Bushmans and Upper Fish Rivers. The Boers and Xhosas ignored the boundary, with both groups establishing homes on either side of the frontier. Governor van Plettenberg attempted to persuade both groups to respect the boundary line without success. The Xhosas were accused of stealing cattle and in 1779 a series of skirmishes erupted along the border which initiated the 1st Frontier War. The frontier remained unstable, resulting in the outbreak of the 2nd Frontier War in 1789. Raids carried out by Boers and Xhosas on both sides of the boundary caused much friction in the area which resulted in several groups being drawn into the conflict. In 1795, the British invasion of the Cape Colony resulted in a change of government. After the government takeover the British began to draw up policies with regards to the frontier resulting in a Boer rebellion in Graaff-Reinet . The policies caused the Khoisan tribes to join some Xhosa chiefs in attacks against British forces during the 3rd Frontier War (1799–1803): Peace was restored to the area when the British, under the Treaty of Amiens , returned the Cape Colony to the Dutch Batavian Republic in 1803. In January 1806 during a second invasion, the British reoccupied the colony after the Battle of Blaauwberg . Tensions in the Zuurveld led the colonial administration and Boer colonists to expel many of the Xhosa tribes from the area, initiating the 4th Frontier War in 1811. Conflicts between the Xhosas on the frontier led to the 5th Frontier War in 1819.[14] The Xhosas, due to dissatisfaction with vacillating government policies regarding where they were permitted to live, undertook large-scale cattle thefts on the frontier. The Cape government responded with several military expeditions. In 1834 a large Xhosa force moved into the Cape territory, which began the 6th Frontier War. Additional fortifications were built by the government and mounted patrols were not well received by the Xhosas, who continued with raids on farms during the 7th Frontier War (1846–1847). The 8th (1850–1853) and 9th Frontier Wars (1877–1878) continued at the same pace as their predecessors. Eventually the Xhosas were defeated and the territories were brought under British control. Great Trek Main article: Great Trek A map charting the routes of the largest trekking parties during the first wave of the Great Trek (1835–1840) along with key battles and events. The Great Trek occurred between 1835 and the early 1840s. During that period some 12,000 to 14,000 Boers (including women and children), impatient with British rule, emigrated from Cape Colony into the great plains beyond the Orange River , and across them again into Natal and the vastness of the Zoutspansberg , in the northern part of the Transvaal. Those Trekboers who occupied the eastern Cape were semi-nomadic. A significant number in the eastern Cape frontier later became Grensboere ('border farmers') who were the direct ancestors of the Voortrekkers . The Boers addressed several correspondence to the British Colonial Government before leaving the Cape Colony as reasons for their departure. Piet Retief , one of the leaders of the Boers during the time, addressed a letter to the government on 22 January 1837 in Grahamstown stating that the Boers did not see any prospect for peace or happiness for their children in a country with such internal commotions. Retief further complained about the severe financial losses which they felt had resulted from the laws of the British administration. While there was financial compensation for the freeing of the people they had enslaved, the Boers found it to be inadequate. They also felt that the English church system was incompatible with the Dutch Reformed Church . By this time the Boers had already formed a separate code of laws in preparation for the great trek and were aware of the dangerous territory they were about to enter. Retief concluded his letter with "We quit this colony under the full assurance that the English Government has nothing more to require of us, and will allow us to govern ourselves without its interference in future: ​ Anglo-Boer wars Main articles: First Boer War and Second Boer War Boer family traveling by covered wagon circa 1900 Following the British annexation of the Transvaal in 1877, Paul Kruger was a key figure in organizing a Boer resistance which led to expulsion of the British from the Transvaal. The Boers then fought the Second Boer War in the late 19th and early 20th century against the British in order to ensure the republics of the Transvaal (the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek ) and the Orange Free State , remaining independent, ultimately capitulating in 1902.[16] Boer War diaspora See also: Boer War diaspora After the Second Boer War, a Boer diaspora occurred. Starting in 1903, the largest group emigrated to the Patagonia region of Argentina and to Brazil . Another group emigrated to British colony of Kenya , from where most returned to South Africa during the 1930s, while a third group under the leadership of General Ben Viljoen emigrated to Mexico and to New Mexico and Texas in the southwestern United States. 1914 Boer Revolt Main article: Maritz Rebellion The Maritz Rebellion (also known as the Boer Revolt, the Five Shilling Rebellion or the Third Boer War) occurred in 1914 at the start of World War I , in which men who supported the re-creation of the Boer republics rose up against the government of the Union of South Africa because they did not want to side with the British against the German Empire so soon after the war with the British. Many Boers had German ancestry and many members of the government were themselves former Boer military leaders who had fought with the Maritz rebels against the British in the Second Boer War. The rebellion was put down by Louis Botha and Jan Smuts , and the ringleaders received heavy fines and terms of imprisonment. One, Jopie Fourie , an officer in the Union Defence Force , was convicted for treason when he refused to take up arms alongside the British, and was executed by the South African government in 1914. Characteristics Language Main article: Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic language spoken widely in South Africa and Namibia , and to a lesser extent in Botswana and Zimbabwe . It evolved from the Dutch vernacular of South Holland (Hollandic dialect) spoken by the mainly Dutch colonists of what is now South Africa, where it gradually began to develop distinguishing characteristics in the course of the 18th century.Hence, it is a daughter language of Dutch, and was previously referred to as Cape Dutch (also used to refer collectively to the early Cape colonists ) or kitchen Dutch (a derogatory term used in its earlier days). However, it is also variously (although incorrectly) described as a creole or as a partially creolised language. The term is ultimately derived from Dutch Afrikaans-Hollands meaning African Dutch. Culture Painting depicting the Bullock wagons moving over the billowy plains, 2 January 1860 The desire to wander, known as trekgees, was a notable characteristic of the Boers. It figured prominently in the late 17th century when the Trekboers began to inhabit the northern and eastern Cape frontiers, again during the Great Trek when the Voortrekkers left the eastern Cape en masse, and after the major republics were established during the Thirstland ('Dorsland') Trek. One such trekker described the impetus for emigrating as, "a drifting spirit was in our hearts, and we ourselves could not understand it. We just sold our farms and set out northwestwards to find a new home". A rustic characteristic and tradition was developed quite early on as Boer society was born on the frontiers of white colonisation and on the outskirts of Western civilisation. The Boer quest for independence manifested in a tradition of declaring republics, which predates the arrival of the British; when the British arrived, Boer republics had already been declared and were in rebellion from the VOC. Beliefs The Boers of the frontier were known for their independent spirit, resourcefulness, hardiness, and self-sufficiency, whose political notions verged on anarchy but had begun to be influenced by republicanism: The Boers had cut their ties to Europe as they emerged from the Trekboer group.[24] The Boers possessed a distinct Protestant culture , and the majority of Boers and their descendants were members of a Reformed Church . The Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk ('Dutch Reformed Church') was the national Church of the South African Republic (1852–1902). The Orange Free State (1854–1902) was named after the Protestant House of Orange in the Netherlands . The Calvinist influence, in such fundamental Calvinist doctrines such as unconditional predestination and divine providence , remains present in a minority of Boer culture, who see their role in society as abiding by the national laws and accepting calamity and hardship as part of their Christian duty. Many Boers have since converted denominations and are now members of Baptist , Charismatic , Pentecostal or Lutheran Churches . Modern usage During recent times, mainly during the apartheid reform and post-1994 eras, some white Afrikaans -speaking people, mainly with conservative political views, and of Trekboer and Voortrekker descent, have chosen to be called Boere, rather than Afrikaners, to distinguish their identity.[25] They believe that many people of Voortrekker descent were not assimilated into what they see as the Cape -based Afrikaner identity. They suggest that this developed after the Second Anglo-Boer War and the subsequent establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910. Some Boer nationalists have asserted that they do not identify as a right-wing element of the political spectrum.[26] They contend that the Boers of the South African Republic and Orange Free State republics were recognised as a separate people or cultural group under international law by the Sand River Convention (which created the South African Republic in 1852),[27] the Bloemfontein Convention (which created the Orange Free State Republic in 1854), the Pretoria Convention (which re-established the independence of the South African Republic 1881), the London Convention (which granted the full independence to the South African Republic in 1884), and the Vereeniging Peace Treaty, which formally ended the Second Anglo-Boer War on 31 May 1902. Others contend, however, that these treaties dealt only with agreements between governmental entities and do not imply the recognition of a Boer cultural identity per se. The supporters of these views feel that the Afrikaner label was used from the 1930s onwards as a means of politically unifying the white Afrikaans speakers of the Western Cape with those of Trekboer and Voortrekker descent in the north of South Africa, where the Boer Republics were established. Since the Anglo-Boer war, the term Boerevolk ('farmer people') was rarely used in the 20th century by the various regimes because of the effort to assimilate the Boerevolk with the Afrikaners. A portion of those who are the descendants of the Boerevolk have reasserted use of this designation. The supporters of the Boer designation view the term Afrikaner as an artificial political label which usurped their history and culture, turning Boer achievements into Afrikaner achievements. They feel that the Western-Cape based Afrikaners – whose ancestors did not trek eastwards or northwards – took advantage of the republican Boers' destitution following the Anglo-Boer War. At that time, the Afrikaners attempted to assimilate the Boers into the new politically-based cultural label In contemporary South Africa, Boer and Afrikaner have often been used interchangeably. The Boers are the smaller segment within the Afrikaner designation, as the Afrikaners of Cape Dutch origin are more numerous. Afrikaner directly translated means African, and thus refers to all Afrikaans-speaking people in Africa who have their origins in the Cape Colony founded by Jan Van Riebeeck. Boer is a specific group within the larger Afrikaans-speaking population. During apartheid, Boer was used by opponents of apartheid in various contexts, referring to institutional structures such as the National Party, or to specific groups of people, such as members of the Police Force (colloquially known as Boere) and Army, Afrikaners, or white South Africans generally. This usage is often viewed as pejorative in contemporary South Africa. Politics Boere-Vryheidsbeweging Boerestaat Party Freedom Front Plus Front National Herstigte Nasionale Party National Conservative Party of South Africa Education The Movement for Christian-National Education is a federation of 47 Calvinist private schools, primarily in the Free State and the Transvaal, committed to educating Boer children from grade 0 through to 12. Media Some local radio stations promote the ideals of those who identify with the Boer people, like Radio Rosestad 100.6 FM (in Bloemfontein), Overvaal Stereo and Radio Pretoria . An internet-based radio station, Boerevolk Radio , promotes Boer separatism. Territories See also: Volkstaat Territorial areas in the form of a Boerestaat ('Boer State') are being developed as colonies exclusively for Boers/Afrikaners, notably Orania in the Northern Cape and Kleinfontein near Pretoria . Notable Boers Voortrekker leaders Sarel Cilliers Andries Hendrik Potgieter Andries Pretorius Piet Retief Great trek Racheltjie de Beer Dirkie Uys Marthinus Jacobus Oosthuizen Participants in the Second Anglo-Boer War Koos de la Rey , general; regarded as being one of the great military leaders of the Second Anglo-Boer War Danie Theron , soldier Christiaan Rudolf de Wet , general Siener van Rensburg , considered a prophet by some Politicians Louis Botha , first prime minister of South Africa (1910–1919) and former Boer general Petrus Jacobus Joubert , general and cabinet member of the Transvaal Republic Paul Kruger , president of the Transvaal Republic Martinus Theunis Steyn , 6th State President of the Orange Free State Spies Robey Leibbrandt Fritz Joubert Duquesne , Boer captain known as the Black Panther who served in the Second Boer War In modern fiction The history of the Cape Colony and the Boers in South Africa is covered at length in the 1980 novel The Covenant by American author James A. Michener. See also Boerboel Boerehaat Boer goat Boer music Great Trek Natalia Republic Orange Free State South African farm attacks South African Republic Transvaal civil war Transvaal Colony Volkstaat Voortrekker ​ DIE VOORTREKKER DIE VOORTREKKER The Voortrekkers were white Afrikaner farmers who emigrated from the British controlled Cape Colony into the erstwhile black-populated areas north of the Orange River in what is now South Africa 1 2 . They were also known as Boers 1 2 . The Voortrekkers left the Cape Colony during the 1830s and 1840s 1 3 . They migrated into the interior Highveld north of the Orange River. Voortrekker, any of the Boers (Dutch settlers or their descendants), or, as they came to be called in the 20th century, Afrikaners, who left the British Cape Colony in Southern Africa after 1834 and migrated into the interior Highveld north of the Orange River . During the next 20 years, they founded new communities in the Southern African interior that evolved into the colony of Natal and the independent Boer states of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic (the Transvaal ). The “Voortrekkers” label is used for the Boers who participated in the organized migrations of systematic colonization—commonly referred to as the Great Trek —and as a term it is to be distinguished from “trekboers,” who were Boers who had moved into the interior prior to the mid-1830s but on an individual or temporary basis. Most Voortrekkers were farming families from the eastern frontier region of the Cape Colony, and their departure is associated with the war against the Xhosa of 1835 (see Cape Frontier Wars ), although the relationship is disputed. The Voortrekkers traditionally have been depicted by English historians as economically backward people who left the Cape Colony as a protest against aspects of British rule, especially the ban on holding slaves (implemented after 1834) and British reluctance to take further land from the Xhosa for white settlement. More recently it has been argued that the very power of the British and the easy victory over the Xhosa in 1835, as well as an increase in the settler population, enticed the Voortrekkers into the interior with the prospect of more land and easy conquests. In this view, the Voortrekker exodus was part of a highly dynamic global movement of European expansion. ​ Trekboers ​ Not to be confused with Voortrekkers or Boers . An aquatint by Samuel Daniell of Trekboers making camp. Depicted around 1804. The Trekboers (/ˈtrɛkbuːrs/ Afrikaans : Trekboere) were nomadic pastoralists descended from European colonists on the frontiers of the Dutch Cape Colony in Southern Africa . The Trekboers began migrating into the interior from the areas surrounding what is now Cape Town , such as Paarl (settled from 1688), Stellenbosch (founded in 1679), and Franschhoek (settled from 1688), during the late 17th century and throughout the 18th century. Origins The Trekboers were seminomadic pastoralists , subsistence farmers who began trekking both northwards and eastwards into the interior to find better pastures/farmlands for their livestock to graze, as well as to escape the autocratic rule of the Dutch East India Company (or VOC), which administered the Cape . They believed the VOC was tainted with corruption and not concerned with the interests of the free burghers , the social class of most of the Trekboers. Trekboers also traded with indigenous people. This meant their herds were of hardy local stock.They formed a vital link between the pool of animals in the interior and the providers of shipping provisions at the Cape. Trekboere were nomadic, living in their wagons and rarely remaining in one location for an extended period of time. A number of Trekboers settled in the eastern Cape, where their descendants became known as Grensboere (Border Farmers). Expansion Main articles: Great Trek and Dorsland Trek A map of the expansion of the Trekboers out of the Cape Colony between 1700 and 1800 Despite the VOC's attempts to prevent settler expansion beyond the western Cape, the frontier of the Colony remained open: the authorities in Cape Town lacked the means to police the Colony's borders.By the 1740s the Trekboers had entered the Little Karoo . By the 1760s they reached the deep interior of the Great Karoo . Independent republics Due to the collapse of the VOC (which went bankrupt in 1800) and inspired by the French Revolution (1789) and the American Revolution ,[citation needed ] groups of Boers rebelled against VOC rule. They set up independent republics in the town of Graaff-Reinet (1795), and four months later, in Swellendam (17 June 1795). A few months later, the newly established Batavian Republic nationalised the VOC (1 March 1796); the Netherlands came under the sway of the new post-revolution French government . The British , who captured Cape Town in September 1795 in the course of the French Revolutionary Wars and took over the administration of Cape Colony, increased the level of government oversight the Trekboers were subject to. Tensions between the Trekboers and the British colonial administration would culminate in the Slachter's Nek Rebellion of 1815, which was rapidly suppressed and the leaders of the rebellion executed. Eventually, due to a combination of dissatisfaction with the British administration, constant frontier wars with the Xhosa to the east, and growing shortages of land, the Trekboers eventually went on the Great Trek . Legacy Mixed-race "Afrikander" Trekboer nomads in the Cape Colony, ancestral to the Baster people. Numerous Trekboers settled down to become border farmers for a few generations and later voortrekkers . But many of the group continued well into the 19th century as an economic class of nomadic pastoralists. Many Trekboers crossed the Orange River decades before the Voortrekkers did. Voortrekkers often encountered Trekboers in Transorangia during their Great Trek of the 1830s and 1840s. In 1815, a Trekboer/trader named Coenraad (Du) Buys (a surname of French Huguenot origin) was accused of cattle theft and fled from the British. He settled in the (western) Transvaal . He allegedly contracted polygamous marriages with hundreds of indigenous women, with his descendants' populating the town of Buysplaas in the Gourits River valley. He continued having numerous wives after leaving the colony. Descendants of his second series of marriages still live in the small town of Buysdorp, near the mission station of Mara, 20 km to the west of Louis Trichardt in the modern Limpopo province. Buys eventually disappeared while traveling along the Limpopo River . By the late 17th century, both the Trekboers and the Voortrekkers were collectively called Boers . Language "Karoo Trekboer," by Charles Davidson Bell The Trekboers spoke a variety of Dutch which they called die taal (lit. 'the language'), which evolved into the modern-day dialect Eastern Border Afrikaans , also known as East Cape Afrikaans. The Afrikaans language as a whole generally originated from 17th- and 18th-century Dutch dialects. Over time it incorporated numerous words and expressions from French, German, Portuguese, Malay , Khoi , and later also English. Still, roughly 90% of the vocabulary is of Dutch origin and it is closer linguistically to Standard Dutch than many Dutch dialects. If Afrikaans had not been defined a separate language during the 20th century, its various dialects would have been considered dialects of Dutch. ​ Section Subtitle BACK TO TOP

South Africa Maps PRETORIA Pretoria is a city in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive ,administrative and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is divided into three sections: pretoria west, east and north. Pretoria is contained within the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality as one of several constituent former administrations ,among which also Centurion and Soshanguve. Pretoria itself is sometimes referred to as "Tshwane" due to a long-running and controversial proposed change of name, which has yet to be decided, as of 2012. Pretoria is named after Andries Pretorius.Pretoria in South Africa is popularly known as The Jacaranda City due to the thousands of Jacaranda trees planted in its streets, parks and gardens http://visitpretoria.co.za/General/map-of-pretoria View Larger Map JOHANNESBURG Johannesburg , is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa.The city is one of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the world, and is also the world's largest city not situated on a river, lake, or coastline. It claims to be the lightning capital of the world, though this title is also claimed by others. While Johannesburg is not one of South Africa's three capital cities, it is the seat of the Constitutional Court, which has the final word on interpretation of South Africa's new post-Apartheid constitution. The city is the source of a large-scale gold and diamond trade, due to its location on the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills. Johannesburg is served by O.R. Tambo International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in Africa and a gateway for international air travel to and from the rest of Southern Africa. More recently Lanseria International Airport has started international flights, and is situated conveniently on the opposite side of the metropolis. View Larger Map DURBAN Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. It is also the third largest city in South Africa after Johannesburg and Cape Town. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism because of the city's warm subtropical climate and extensive beaches. The municipality, which includes neighbouring towns, has a population of almost 3.5 million, making the combined municipality the biggest city on the east coast of the African continent. Archaeological evidence from the Drakensberg mountains suggests that the Durban area has been inhabited by communities of hunter-gatherers since 100,000 BC. These people lived throughout the area of present day KwaZulu-Natal until the expansion of Bantu farmers and pastoralists from the north saw their gradual displacement,incorporation or extermination. View Larger Map CAPE TOWN Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa after Johannesburg, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality. The city is famous for its harbour as well as its natural setting in the Cape floral kingdom, including such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point. Cape Town is also Africa's most popular tourist destination. Located on the shore of Table Bay, Cape Town was originally developed by the Dutch East India Company as a victualling (supply) station for Dutch ships sailing to Eastern Africa, India, and the Far East. Jan van Riebeeck's arrival on 6 April 1652 established the first permanent European settlement in South Africa. View Larger Map PORT ELIZABETH Port Elizabeth is one of the largest cities in South Africa, situated in the Eastern Cape Province, 770 km (478 mi) east of Cape Town. The city, often shortened to PE and nicknamed "The Friendly City" or "The Windy City", stretches for 16 km along Algoa Bay, and is one of the major seaports in South Africa. Port Elizabeth was founded as a town in 1820 to house British settlers as a way of strengthening the border region between the Cape Colony and the Xhosa. It now forms part of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality which has a population of over 1.3 million. During the Second Boer War, the port was an important transit point for soldiers, horses and materials headed to the front by railway. While the city itself did not see any conflict, many refugees from the war moved into the city. These included Boer women and children interned by the British in a concentration camp. Following that war, the Horse Memorial was erected to honour the tens of thousands of horses and mules that died during the conflict. View Larger Map PIETERBURG-POLOKWANE Polokwane, meaning "Place of Safety", is a city in the Polokwane Local Municipality and the capital of the Limpopo province, South Africa. It is also often referred to by its former name,Pietersburg. Polokwane is a major urban centre, the biggest and most important north of Gauteng. Polokwane was one of the host cities of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.In the 1840s, Voortrekkers under the leadership of Andries Potgieter established Zoutpansbergdorp, a town 100 km to the north west. This settlement had to be abandoned because of clashes with the local tribes. They founded a new town in 1886 and named it Pietersburg in honour of Voortrekker leader Petrus Jacobus Joubert. The British built a concentration camp at Pietersburg during the Boer War to house almost 4,000 Boer women and children. The town officially became a city on April 23, 1992; on February 25, 2005, the government declared the official name of the city as Polokwane, a name that was generally in use by the speakers of Northern Sotho. View Larger Map PORT SHEPSTONE Port Shepstone is situated on the mouth of the largest river on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, the Mzimkulu River ,the great home of all rivers. 120 kilometres (75 mi) south of Durban, it is the administrative, educational and commercial centre for southern Natal. Port Shepstone was founded in 1867 when marble was discovered nearby and is named after Sir Theophilus Shepstone of the Natal government of the 1880s. William Bazley built a harbour and the first coaster entered the harbour on the May 8, 1880. In 1882 a party of 246 Norwegian immigrants settled here and played a large part in the development of the area. After the opening of the railway to Durban in 1901 the harbour fell in disuse and eventually the river silted up again making it impossible to use. The 27,000 candela lighthouse still stands at the mouth of the Mzimkulu River. View Larger Map EAST LONDON East London is a city on the southeast coast of South Africa, situated at 32.97°S and 27.87°E in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality of the Eastern Cape province. The city lies on the Indian Ocean coast, largely between the Buffalo River and the Nahoon River, and hosts the country's only river port. East London today has a population of over 400 000, with over 1.4 million in the metropolitan area.The city formed around the only river port in South Africa and was originally known as Port Rex. This settlement on the West Bank was the nucleus of the town of East London, which was elevated to city status in 1914. During the early to mid-19th century frontier wars between the British settlers and the local Xhosa inhabitants, East London served as a supply port to service the military headquarters at nearby King William’s Town, about thirty miles away. A British fort, Fort Glamorgan, was built on the West Bank in 1847, and annexed to the Cape Colony that same year. This fort is one of a series of forts the British built, that include Fort Murray, Fort White, Fort Cox Fort Hare and Fort Beaufort, in the border area that became known as British Kaffraria. View Larger Map BLOEMFONTEIN Bloemfontein is the capital city of the Free State Province of South Africa; and, as the judicial capital of the nation, one of South Africa's three national capitals ,the other two being Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Pretoria, the administrative capital. As the capital of the Orange Free State Republic the growth and maturing of the Republic resulted in the growth of the town. Numerous public buildings that remain in use today were constructed. This was largely facilitated by the excellent governance of the Republic ,which acquired the term model republic ,and the compensation from the British for the loss of the diamond rich Griqualand area.In 1899 the city was the site of the Bloemfontein Conference, which failed to prevent the outbreak of the Second Boer War. The conference was a final attempt to avert a war between Britain and the South African Republic. With its failure the stage was set for war, which broke out on 11 October 1899. View Larger Map KIMBERLEY Kimberley is the capital of the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. It is located approximately 110 km east of the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The city has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and the siege during the Second Boer War. Notable personalities such as Cecil Rhodes and Barney Barnato made their fortunes here, and the roots of the De Beers company can also be traced to the early days of the mining town.In 1866, Erasmus Jacobs found a small brilliant pebble on the banks of the Orange River, on the farm De Kalk leased from local Griquas, near Hopetown, which was his father's farm. He showed the pebble to his father who sold it. The pebble was purchased from Jacobs by Schalk van Niekerk, who later sold it. It proved to be a 21.25 carat (4.25 g) diamond, and became known as the Eureka. Three years later Schalk van Niekerk sold another diamond also found in the De Kalk vicinity, the Star of South Africa for £11,200. View Larger Map MPUMALANGA Mpumalanga from Eastern Transvaal on 24 August 1995), is a province of South Africa. The name means east or literally "the place where the sun rises" in Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, north of KwaZulu-Natal and bordering Swaziland and Mozambique. It constitutes 6.5% of South Africa's land area. In the north it borders on Limpopo, to the west Gauteng, to the southwest the Free State and to the south KwaZulu-Natal. The capital is Nelspruit ,recently renamed to Mbombela. Prior to 1994, Mpumalanga was part of Transvaal Province. The Drakensberg Escarpment divides Mpumalanga into a westerly half consisting mainly of high-altitude grassland called the Highveld and an eastern half situated in low altitude subtropical Lowveld/Bushveld, mostly savanna habitat. The southern half of the Kruger National Park is situated in the latter region. The Drakensberg exceeds heights of 2000m in most places with this central region of Mpumalanga being very mountainous. These regions have alpine grasslands and small pockets of Afromontane Forest. The Lowveld is relatively flat with interspersed rocky outcrops. The Lebombo Mountains form a low range in the far east forming the border with Mozambique. View Larger Map LIMPOPO Limpopo is the northern most province of South Africa. It was named after the Limpopo River; "Limpopo" means "waterfalls" in Zulu and other Nguni languages. The capital is Polokwane, formerly named Pietersburg. The province was formed from the northern region of Transvaal Province in 1994, and initially named Northern Transvaal. The following year, it was renamed Northern Province, which remained the name until 2003, when the name of the province was formally changed to the name of its most important river–on the border with Zimbabwe and Botswana–after deliberation by the provincial government and amendment of the Constitution. A notable consideration for the name was Mapungubwe, the area where the most ancient gold-using civilisation of the province was discovered a few years earlier. The province contains much of the Waterberg Biosphere, a UNESCO-designated Biosphere Reserve. The Waterberg Biosphere, a massif of approximately 15,000 km2 (5,800 sq mi), is the first region in the northern part of South Africa to be named as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. The massif was shaped by hundreds of millions of years of riverine erosion to yield diverse bluff and butte landforms.The Waterberg ecosystem can be characterised as a dry deciduous forest or Bushveld. Within the Waterberg, archaeological finds date to the Stone Age. Nearby are early evolutionary finds related to the origin of humans. ​ Pictures of South Africa Translate Company Gestbook Riseingsouthernstar-Africa Radio Eendrag .......... riseingsouthernstar africa THE RISEING SOUTHERNSTAR OF AFRICA Home Our Site Map South African History The Nine Provinces Wild Life South Africa South African Culture Genocide South Africa Our Top List South Africa Maps Our Petitions Site Weskaap AWB Radio Stations Sam-South African Music South Africa Maps Our South African Maps and Pictures PRETORIA Pretoria is a city in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive ,administrative and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is divided into three sections: pretoria west, east and north. Pretoria is contained within the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality as one of several constituent former administrations ,among which also Centurion and Soshanguve. Pretoria itself is sometimes referred to as "Tshwane" due to a long-running and controversial proposed change of name, which has yet to be decided, as of 2012. Pretoria is named after Andries Pretorius.Pretoria in South Africa is popularly known as The Jacaranda City due to the thousands of Jacaranda trees planted in its streets, parks and gardens http://visitpretoria.co.za/General/map-of-pretoria View Larger Map JOHANNESBURG Johannesburg , is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa.The city is one of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the world, and is also the world's largest city not situated on a river, lake, or coastline. It claims to be the lightning capital of the world, though this title is also claimed by others. While Johannesburg is not one of South Africa's three capital cities, it is the seat of the Constitutional Court, which has the final word on interpretation of South Africa's new post-Apartheid constitution. The city is the source of a large-scale gold and diamond trade, due to its location on the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills. Johannesburg is served by O.R. Tambo International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in Africa and a gateway for international air travel to and from the rest of Southern Africa. More recently Lanseria International Airport has started international flights, and is situated conveniently on the opposite side of the metropolis. View Larger Map DURBAN Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. It is also the third largest city in South Africa after Johannesburg and Cape Town. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism because of the city's warm subtropical climate and extensive beaches. The municipality, which includes neighbouring towns, has a population of almost 3.5 million, making the combined municipality the biggest city on the east coast of the African continent. Archaeological evidence from the Drakensberg mountains suggests that the Durban area has been inhabited by communities of hunter-gatherers since 100,000 BC. These people lived throughout the area of present day KwaZulu-Natal until the expansion of Bantu farmers and pastoralists from the north saw their gradual displacement,incorporation or extermination. View Larger Map CAPE TOWN Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa after Johannesburg, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality. The city is famous for its harbour as well as its natural setting in the Cape floral kingdom, including such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point. Cape Town is also Africa's most popular tourist destination. Located on the shore of Table Bay, Cape Town was originally developed by the Dutch East India Company as a victualling (supply) station for Dutch ships sailing to Eastern Africa, India, and the Far East. Jan van Riebeeck's arrival on 6 April 1652 established the first permanent European settlement in South Africa. View Larger Map PORT ELIZABETH Port Elizabeth is one of the largest cities in South Africa, situated in the Eastern Cape Province, 770 km (478 mi) east of Cape Town. The city, often shortened to PE and nicknamed "The Friendly City" or "The Windy City", stretches for 16 km along Algoa Bay, and is one of the major seaports in South Africa. Port Elizabeth was founded as a town in 1820 to house British settlers as a way of strengthening the border region between the Cape Colony and the Xhosa. It now forms part of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality which has a population of over 1.3 million. During the Second Boer War, the port was an important transit point for soldiers, horses and materials headed to the front by railway. While the city itself did not see any conflict, many refugees from the war moved into the city. These included Boer women and children interned by the British in a concentration camp. Following that war, the Horse Memorial was erected to honour the tens of thousands of horses and mules that died during the conflict. View Larger Map PIETERBURG-POLOKWANE Polokwane, meaning "Place of Safety", is a city in the Polokwane Local Municipality and the capital of the Limpopo province, South Africa. It is also often referred to by its former name,Pietersburg. Polokwane is a major urban centre, the biggest and most important north of Gauteng. Polokwane was one of the host cities of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.In the 1840s, Voortrekkers under the leadership of Andries Potgieter established Zoutpansbergdorp, a town 100 km to the north west. This settlement had to be abandoned because of clashes with the local tribes. They founded a new town in 1886 and named it Pietersburg in honour of Voortrekker leader Petrus Jacobus Joubert. The British built a concentration camp at Pietersburg during the Boer War to house almost 4,000 Boer women and children. The town officially became a city on April 23, 1992; on February 25, 2005, the government declared the official name of the city as Polokwane, a name that was generally in use by the speakers of Northern Sotho. View Larger Map PORT SHEPSTONE Port Shepstone is situated on the mouth of the largest river on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, the Mzimkulu River ,the great home of all rivers. 120 kilometres (75 mi) south of Durban, it is the administrative, educational and commercial centre for southern Natal. Port Shepstone was founded in 1867 when marble was discovered nearby and is named after Sir Theophilus Shepstone of the Natal government of the 1880s. William Bazley built a harbour and the first coaster entered the harbour on the May 8, 1880. In 1882 a party of 246 Norwegian immigrants settled here and played a large part in the development of the area. After the opening of the railway to Durban in 1901 the harbour fell in disuse and eventually the river silted up again making it impossible to use. The 27,000 candela lighthouse still stands at the mouth of the Mzimkulu River. View Larger Map EAST LONDON East London is a city on the southeast coast of South Africa, situated at 32.97°S and 27.87°E in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality of the Eastern Cape province. The city lies on the Indian Ocean coast, largely between the Buffalo River and the Nahoon River, and hosts the country's only river port. East London today has a population of over 400 000, with over 1.4 million in the metropolitan area.The city formed around the only river port in South Africa and was originally known as Port Rex. This settlement on the West Bank was the nucleus of the town of East London, which was elevated to city status in 1914. During the early to mid-19th century frontier wars between the British settlers and the local Xhosa inhabitants, East London served as a supply port to service the military headquarters at nearby King William’s Town, about thirty miles away. A British fort, Fort Glamorgan, was built on the West Bank in 1847, and annexed to the Cape Colony that same year. This fort is one of a series of forts the British built, that include Fort Murray, Fort White, Fort Cox Fort Hare and Fort Beaufort, in the border area that became known as British Kaffraria. View Larger Map BLOEMFONTEIN Bloemfontein is the capital city of the Free State Province of South Africa; and, as the judicial capital of the nation, one of South Africa's three national capitals ,the other two being Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Pretoria, the administrative capital. As the capital of the Orange Free State Republic the growth and maturing of the Republic resulted in the growth of the town. Numerous public buildings that remain in use today were constructed. This was largely facilitated by the excellent governance of the Republic ,which acquired the term model republic ,and the compensation from the British for the loss of the diamond rich Griqualand area.In 1899 the city was the site of the Bloemfontein Conference, which failed to prevent the outbreak of the Second Boer War. The conference was a final attempt to avert a war between Britain and the South African Republic. With its failure the stage was set for war, which broke out on 11 October 1899. View Larger Map KIMBERLEY Kimberley is the capital of the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. It is located approximately 110 km east of the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The city has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and the siege during the Second Boer War. Notable personalities such as Cecil Rhodes and Barney Barnato made their fortunes here, and the roots of the De Beers company can also be traced to the early days of the mining town.In 1866, Erasmus Jacobs found a small brilliant pebble on the banks of the Orange River, on the farm De Kalk leased from local Griquas, near Hopetown, which was his father's farm. He showed the pebble to his father who sold it. The pebble was purchased from Jacobs by Schalk van Niekerk, who later sold it. It proved to be a 21.25 carat (4.25 g) diamond, and became known as the Eureka. Three years later Schalk van Niekerk sold another diamond also found in the De Kalk vicinity, the Star of South Africa for £11,200. View Larger Map MPUMALANGA Mpumalanga from Eastern Transvaal on 24 August 1995), is a province of South Africa. The name means east or literally "the place where the sun rises" in Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, north of KwaZulu-Natal and bordering Swaziland and Mozambique. It constitutes 6.5% of South Africa's land area. In the north it borders on Limpopo, to the west Gauteng, to the southwest the Free State and to the south KwaZulu-Natal. The capital is Nelspruit ,recently renamed to Mbombela. Prior to 1994, Mpumalanga was part of Transvaal Province. The Drakensberg Escarpment divides Mpumalanga into a westerly half consisting mainly of high-altitude grassland called the Highveld and an eastern half situated in low altitude subtropical Lowveld/Bushveld, mostly savanna habitat. The southern half of the Kruger National Park is situated in the latter region. The Drakensberg exceeds heights of 2000m in most places with this central region of Mpumalanga being very mountainous. These regions have alpine grasslands and small pockets of Afromontane Forest. The Lowveld is relatively flat with interspersed rocky outcrops. The Lebombo Mountains form a low range in the far east forming the border with Mozambique. View Larger Map LIMPOPO Limpopo is the northern most province of South Africa. It was named after the Limpopo River; "Limpopo" means "waterfalls" in Zulu and other Nguni languages. The capital is Polokwane, formerly named Pietersburg. The province was formed from the northern region of Transvaal Province in 1994, and initially named Northern Transvaal. The following year, it was renamed Northern Province, which remained the name until 2003, when the name of the province was formally changed to the name of its most important river–on the border with Zimbabwe and Botswana–after deliberation by the provincial government and amendment of the Constitution. A notable consideration for the name was Mapungubwe, the area where the most ancient gold-using civilisation of the province was discovered a few years earlier. The province contains much of the Waterberg Biosphere, a UNESCO-designated Biosphere Reserve. The Waterberg Biosphere, a massif of approximately 15,000 km2 (5,800 sq mi), is the first region in the northern part of South Africa to be named as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. The massif was shaped by hundreds of millions of years of riverine erosion to yield diverse bluff and butte landforms.The Waterberg ecosystem can be characterised as a dry deciduous forest or Bushveld. Within the Waterberg, archaeological finds date to the Stone Age. Nearby are early evolutionary finds related to the origin of humans. View Larger Map Voortrekker str, Pretoria : Hope These Google Maps helped you find the Information of South Africa, and maybe make a dream come true ,to visit South Africa, Thankyou for Visiting our Map Page,Greetings Andy,and have a great day,and visit us soon again on our Website http://riseingsouthernstar-africa.de.tl Start Now Sam-South African Music SAM SAM-SOUTH AFRICAN MUSIC BLOG ON GOOGLE In April 2014 the Google Blogger was openened ,through the high visit of friends and visitors, Online around the world and Thankyou to our supporters AND FRIENDS. We support and promote our friends that was at that time playing in some of the local upcoming bands, and give our other local musicians a way through which they could share their music to their South African fans, and hopefully internationally. Read more Information On SAM and Dj.Night Hawk... Style: “Dance and Disco music with South African boere and Afrikaanse Music ” Best known for: “soft and Loving music from South Africa ‘South African Boerer Music’ (to share with my friend on Facebook and Friends around the world on Radio Eendrag).” Tune of the year: “(Afrikaanse Remix)’ Bok Van Blerk,Steve Hofmeyr and many more South African afrikaanse se Singers‘” From: “Germany Limburg.” Breakthrough DJ/ 2014: “Straight to the top! with support of his Fb fan .” 2014 has been an exciting year for Dj Night Hawk, Andy Dezius. In Janaury he secured a headline on facebook and build many websites and blogger to share on the world wide web and had the South African Boere Volk and friends supporting him all the way and supporting his Facebook Profile to support the South African White People, ‘Go Hard’ received more than two million views on his blogger and website. This was followed by 'Many ways that he had supported the White People of South Africa. DJ Night Hawks ,Andy Dezius career began when he was spotted by many of his Facebook Friends to go so far and open a South African Music group,blogger and Homepage to share with his friends and the world wide web ,and they supported him all the way . DJ Night Hawk took the aspiring under his wings. “He brought it into a music show on facebook by shareing youtube videos and his fan and friends love it.” “I’m really happy . It’s an honour to share my Website.” Read more SAM-SOUTH AFRICAN MUSIC South African Music is a South African Homepage based with a Online Music Radio Station Radio Eendrag , from South Africa that is stationed in Cape Town , and is also a South African Music Time shareing Homepage to share with People all around the World for Young and Old, It was founded in March 2014 in Germany. SAM-South African Music homepage is looking for South African Music Artists ,to be added to their homepage ..Please inbox Andy Or at our Contact page .. or leave a message in our gestbook ..Thankyou . If you are a South African band .. Singer or Music Artist would like to be added..greetings SAM-SOUTH AFRICAN MUSIC. Read more What do we Advitise and what do we share with our Friends We support and promote our friends that was at that time playing in some of the local upcoming bands, and give our other local musicians a way through which they could share their music to their South African fans, and hopefully internationally. We have also opened a new Radio Eendrag blogger on Google We welcome ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FANS and hope you to follow us on Radio Eendrag.. google blog http://radio-eendrag.blogspot.de/ Read more Read more Radio Eendrag Playlist 2014 ​ RSS Live now: 1 min. ago Fredi Nest - S My - Meer En Meer 1h. 38min. ago Down The Mississippi 17h. 8min. ago Theuns Jordaan - Vreemde Stad - Sonvanger 1d. 7h. 1min. ago Unknown Artist - Unknown Album (8/24/2009 10:45:21 Am) - Track 3 1d. 22h. 9min. ago Vrystaat Limousine.mp3 2d. 12h. 26min. ago Unknown Artist - Unknown Album (12/20/2008 9:15:29 Pm) - Track 5 3d. 1h. 47min. ago Boerevry 3d. 16h. 33min. ago Hanne 4d. 5h. 41min. ago Take On Me.mp3 4d. 20h. 32min. ago Daar Gaan Sy 5d. 9h. 18min. ago From This Moment 5d. 9h. 57min. ago 12tonight.mp3 6d. 19min. ago Bonnie Tyler - Greatest Hits - It`s A Heartache 6d. 14h. 58min. ago Kimberley Se Trein 7d. 4h. 27min. ago Reik Na Die Sterre.mp3 7d. 19h. 50min. ago Kalahari Kinders 8d. 11h. 14min. ago Tiny Bubbles.mp3 9d. 2h. 4min. ago Stampie Boude.mp3 9d. 18h. 6min. ago Michael Lindt - Sal Vir Altyd Bly - Horison Van My Droom 10d. 9h. 11min. ago Wie Stoot So 11d. 26min. ago Take On Me.mp3 11d. 14h. 13min. ago Dreams 12d. 3h. 48min. ago Yeppa.mp3 12d. 18h. 22min. ago Livin On A Prayer 13d. 8h. 51min. ago Bonnie Tyler - Bitterblue - Bitterblue 14d. 3min. ago Bobby Van Jaarsveld - Vat My Saam - Vat My Saam 14d. 15h. 44min. ago Kaptein Span Die Seile 15d. 5h. 41min. ago 03 Robbie Williams Something Beautiful.mp3 15d. 21h. 19min. ago Rabbedoe.mp3 16d. 12h. 3min. ago Dreams 17d. 1h. 51min. ago Jaloers Bokkie.mp3 17d. 17h. 9min. ago Ons Soek Net Country.mp3 18d. 6h. 59min. ago Boerenooi 18d. 21h. 34min. ago Vrystaat Limousine.mp3 19d. 11h. 24min. ago Kaptein Span Die Seile 20d. 1h. 40min. ago 9 To 5 20d. 8h. 15min. ago Michael Lindt - Sal Vir Altyd Bly - Horison Van My Droom 20d. 17h. 41min. ago Take Me Back 21d. 9h. 30min. ago Kniee Lam 22d. 47min. ago Ken Jy Die Land Waar Die Boervolk Woon 22d. 16h. 22min. ago Abba - Sos 23d. 6h. 40min. ago Droomvrou 23d. 22h. 8min. ago Macarena 24d. 13h. 35min. ago On The Wings Of A Nightingale.mp3 25d. 3h. 9min. ago 13boys Of Summer.mp3 25d. 17h. 11min. ago Stampie Boude.mp3 25d. 21h. 46min. ago Liefde Is My Nooi Se Naam 25d. 21h. 49min. ago Macarena 25d. 22h. 2min. ago Maria - 25 Gatswaai Treffers - Everlasting Love 25d. 22h. 3min. ago Moeder Se Gebede 25d. 22h. 26min. ago Tina Turner - Privare Dancer 25d. 22h. 38min. ago Tina Turner - The Best 26d. 5h. 41min. ago Because Its Lovedon Kelly 26d. 8h. 8min. ago Die Lewe Sonder Jou 26d. 18h. 54min. ago Skommel Daai Ding.mp3 27d. 8h. 1min. ago Do You Speak English 27d. 22h. 2min. ago Vier Woorde.mp3 28d. 11h. 32min. ago Steve Hofmeyer - Dis Hoe Dit Is 29d. 22min. ago Ramkat.mp3 29d. 13h. 56min. ago Im Alive 30d. 2h. 39min. ago 8 01 Heidi.mp3 30d. 16h. 7min. ago Macarena Mambo 30d. 23h. 8min. ago Cascada - Perfect Day - What Hurts The Most (yannous Candelight Mix) 31d. 4h. 49min. ago 54 5de Straat.mp3 31d. 18h. 28min. ago Sonja Herholdt Harlekyn.mp3 32d. 7h. 8min. ago Boesmanland 32d. 20h. 5min. ago Dana Winner - Sproetjies 33d. 8h. 58min. ago Bette Davis Eyes 33d. 22h. 19min. ago Unknown Artist - Unknown Album (8/24/2009 10:45:21 Am) - Track 3 34d. 5h. 1min. ago Its Raining Man 34d. 11h. 40min. ago Artist - Title - Ge Korsten-sonder Jou We have also opened a new Music blogger on Google We welcome ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FANS and hope you to follow us on SAM-South African Music google blog http://sam-southafricanmusic.blogspot.de/ Read more Radio Eendrag is Searcing for Top Djs.All over the World .To give a Live Steam ,World Wide .Ülease Contact Radio Eendrag ,We will be Happy if you are Interested to Broadcast for us.We are looking for Top Djs around the world .Become a Team Member. See More SAM-SOUTH AFRICAN MUSIC SAM-SOUTH AFRICAN MUSIC has added a new Homepage .This page is about Dj Night Hawk as a Music Share Programm.Dj.Night Hawk also shares Radio Eendrag Live and there Auto Dj that run 24/7 World Wide , on 8 Blogs in Germany and 8 Website and Homepages, to share with Friends and Fans. Dj.Night Hawk also shares Youtube Video on a Friday Night for 1 Hour Music Videos to share with Facebook Members And Friends.and soon will share many more Music as for Video,Music and Picture ,Welcome to Dj.Night Hawk. Read more WE NEVER SLEEP WE ARE 24/7 If not live on the Chanel then as Auto Dj....This is what we call Interainment. If you Love our Homepages ,Blogs or Groups on Facebook ,Follow us and Advitise with us.We are here to share with our friends world wide and your Friends and Family.We stand what we do .South African Music is not Known yet all over the world yet .It Great Music and songs. Read more BACK TO TOP

South african Culture South African flag Songs Oranje-blanje-blou Oranje-blanje-blou (Afrikaans for Orange, white and blue) refers, of course, to the old South African flag used between 1928 and 1994. This song was popular especially among Afrikaners when this flag flew over South Africa. The tune is by Henry Hugh Pierson (they don't say whether it was borrowed from this composer), and the lyrics are by an Afrikaans poet who wrote under the name Eitemal. The attribution for the text reads: "EITEMAL na: ,,O.D., hoch in Ehren''. (There is a commonly used style of quotation marks, primarily German but often used in Afrikaans, that opens a quote with commas rather than the more familiar "inverted commas"). The title simply gives the colours of the 1928 South African flag, or, more strictly, the Dutch Princenvlag: orange, white and blue. (I am not certain of the derivation of "blanje", since it is not used in ordinary spoken Afrikaans, but I would guess that it is a form of the French "blanc", white). The text reads: Die Hoogland is ons woning, die land van son en veld, waar woeste vryheidswinde waai oor graf van meenge held. Die ruimtes het ons siel gevoed, ons kan g'n slawe wees, want vryer as die arendsvlug, die vlugte van ons gees. Chorus: Dis die tyd, (repeated) dis die dag, (repeated) om te handhaaf en te bou. Hoog die hart, (repeated) hoog die vlag, (repeated) hoog Oranje-blanje-blou! Ons gaan saam die donker toekoms in om as een te sneuwel of oorwin, met ons oog gerig op jou, ons Oranje-blanje-blou! (Note: In the sixth line [hoog Oranje-blanje-blou], there is an echo of "blou, blanje-blou!") Die ruwe berge-reekse staan hoog teen awendlug, soos gryse ewighede daar versteen, verstyf in vlug. En stewig soos die grou graniet ons Boeretrots en -trou, die fondament warop ond hier 'n nuwe nasie bou. (Chorus) Die God van onse vaders het ons hierheen gelei ons dien sy grootse skeppings-plan, solank ons Boere bly. Ons buig ons hoof voor Hom alleen; en as Hy ons verhoor omgord ons bly die lendene: Die toekoms wink daar voor. Translation (off the cuff - any improvements welcome). Note: the reference to Hoogland (translated here as highlands) is probably poetic licence for Highveld (Afrikaans Hoe"veld), a region which includes large parts of both the former Transvaal Province (Zuid- Afrikaansche Republiek) and the current Free State Province (the old Oranje Vrij Staat). The highlands are our home, the land of sun and veld, where wild winds of freedom blow over [the] grave of many a hero. The open spaces have fed our souls, we cannot be slaves [literaaly "we can be no slaves"] as freer than the eagle's flight, the flights of our spirit. Chorus: It's the time, it's the day, to maintain and to build. High the heart, high the flag, high Orange-white-blue! We go together into the dark future together to die or win, with our eye fixed on you, our Orange-white-blue! (Sneuwel means literally to die in warfare; oorwin means to win in battle.) The rugged mountain ranges stand high against the evening light like petrified grey eternities there, stiffened in flight. And firmly like the grey granite our Boer pride and loyalty, the foundation upon which we here are building a new nation. (The word awendlug [evening air] seems to be an error; it seems more logical to say awendlig [evening light]; awend is a poetic form [harking back to Dutch] for the more usual Afrikaans "aand"). The God of our fathers led us here, we serve his mighty creation plan, as long as we Boers remain. Webend our heads before Him alone; and if He hears us we gird our loins joyfully: The future waves us on. (Source: The FAK [Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereninge] Sangbunde). Mike Oettle, 06 Feb 2004. Ons Vlag Nou waai ons Vlag en wapper fier! Sy kleure is ons vreugde; hul skoonheid spoor ons harte aan tot ware, ed'le deugde. Oranje dui op heldemoed wat krag vind by die Here; die Blanje eis 'n rein gemoed; die Blou verg trou en ere. Ons Vlag bly steeds ons eenheidsband. Al kom ook sware tye; dis God wat waak oor Volk en Land, Suid-Afrika ons eie. Translation: Now our flag waves and flaps bravely! Its colours are our joy; their beauty encourages our hearts to true, noble virtues. Orange stands for heroic courage which draws strength from the Lord; the White demands a pure attitude; the Blue wants loyalty and honour. Our flag remains our bond of unity. Even if times get hard; it's God who watches over Nation and Land, South Africa our own. The forms "sware" (where "swaar" would be the usual way of speaking), "ed'le" (for "edele") and "ere" (for "eer") are poetic forms, adaptations to the scansion. The same goes for the word "meen'ge" in Oranje-blanje-blou, which would normally be "menige". (Source: The FAK [ Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereninge] Sangbunde). Mike Oettle, 10 Feb 2004 De Vlaamse Leeuw This song is an odd one to find in the FAK Sangbundel, since its title translates as "The Flemish Lion" and the language is Dutch, definitely not Afrikaans. Clearly, it was included because, centuries after the Eighty Years War, the symbol of Flanders still finds a resonance with Afrikaner descendants of those Protestant Flemings who fled Spanish rule and went to live in the Seven Provinces. The words are credited to T H van Peene, and the tune to K Mirij, arrangement by Dirkie de Villiers (son of M L de Villiers, the composer of the music to Die Stem van Suid-Afrika, the former South African national anthem). There are two verses and a refrain: Zij zullen hem niet temmen, de fiere Vlaamse Leeuw, al dreigen zij zijn vrijheid met kluisters en geschreeuw. Zij zullen hem niet temmen, zolang e'e'n Vlaming leeft, zolang de Leeuw kan klauwen, zolang hij tanden heeft. Refrain: Zij zullen him niet temmen zolang e'e'n Vlaming leeft, zolang de Leeuw kan klauwen, zolang hij tanden heeft, zolang de Leeuw kan klauwen, zolang hij tanden heeft. De tijd verslindt de steden, geen tronen blijven staan, de legerbenden sneven, een volk zal niet vergaan. De vijand trekt te velde, omringd van doodsgevaar. Wij lachen met zijn woede, die Vlaamse Leeuw is daar. Here's an attempt at a translation: They won't tame him, the proud Flemish Lion, even if they threaten his freedom with chains and shouting. They will not be able to tame him as long as even one Fleming lives, as long as the Lion can claw, as long as he has teeth. Refrain: They will not tame him, the proud Flemish Lion, as long as one Fleming lives, as long as the Lion has claws, as long as he has teeth, as long as the Lion has claws, as long as he has teeth. Time eats up the cities, no thrones last forever, the armed companies die in battle, a people will not disappear. The enemy goes out to war, surrounded by deadly danger. We laugh at his anger, the Flemish Lion is there. I have written the word een as e'e'n - each 'e' carries an acute accent. This emphasises the word, giving the meaning "even if only one Fleming is left alive". The word verslindt means to destroy by eating - this verb is used literally only of animals (never humans) and, poetically, of things that destroy in like manner. I am not certain that I have the right word for "kluisters" - I don't have a dictionary at hand as I write this - and would be grateful if some Dutch correspondent would check that. "Geschreeuw" can mean either shouting or screaming, but shouting seems more appropriate. In the second verse, "de legerbenden sneven" - "leger" means army, but "armed companies" seems to fit better with "benden" or bands. "Sneven" (in Afrikaans "sneuwel") means to die in war or in battle (rather than dying of disease, another common way in which soldiers have traditionally lost their lives). I have rendered "een volk" as "a people", but "a nation" could also be appropriate. "Trekt te velde" means literally to go out into the fields, but its application to an enemy means that it is out on campaign (after all, campaign comes from a word meaning "fields", also). Mike Oettle, 02 Mar 2004 Transvaalse Volkslied The Transvaalse Volkslied, although the official anthem of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek and when the territory was officially called Transvaal (1879-81and 1901 onwards), it was not well thought of by the authorities. The words and music of the Transvaalse Volkslied are by Catharina F van Rees, and it is dated 1875 - surprisingly it dates to the period before the annexation of 1879, since the emotions seem to blend well with those of the victorious rebels of 1881. Possibly this date accounts for the song's non-avoidance of the word Transvaal, which was the name of the state so strongly rejected in the uprising of 1880-81. The arrangement is by G G Cillie'. (There is an acute accent on the final letter in this surname; it is pronounced "Sil-yee". The surname is French, although its spelling is no longer authentically French; other members of this family spell it as Cilliers or Celliers.) The language is Dutch. (As mentioned previously, Afrikaans was the spoken language of all the 19th-century Boer republics, but was hardly ever written, and was not generally well thought of by those who had been educated in either English or Dutch.) Kent gij dat volk vol heldenmoed en toch zo lang geknecht? Het heeft geofferd goed en bloed voor vryheid en voor recht. Komt burgers! laat de vlaggen wapp'ren, ons lijden is voorbij; roemt in die zege onzer dapp'ren: Dat vrije volk zijn wij! Dat vrije volk, dat vrije volk, dat vrije, vrije volk zijn wij! Kent gij dat land, zo schaars bezocht en toch zo heerlik schoon; waar de natuur haar wond'ren wrocht, en kwistig stelt ten toon? Transvalers! laat ons feestlied schallen! Daar waar ons volk hield stand, waar onze vreugdeschoten knallen, daar is ons vaderland! Dat heerlik land, dat heerlik land, dat is, dat is ons vaderland! Kent gij die Staat, nog maar een kind in's werelds Statenrij, maar tog door 't machtig Brits bewind weleer verklaard voor vrij? Transvalers! edel was uw streven, en pijnlik onze smaad, maar God die uitkomst heeft gegeven, zij lof voor d'eigen Staat! Looft onze God! Looft onze God! Looft onze God voor land en Staat! Now for a translation (again lease excuse and correct! any errors): Do you know the people full of heroic courage and yet so long servants? It has offered possessions and blood for freedom and for justice. Come, citizens, let the flags wave, our suffering is past; be joyous in the victory of our brave ones; We are the free people! The free people, the free people, the free, free people are we! Do you know the land, so seldom visited, and yet so wonderfully beautiful; where nature has wrought her wonders, and profligately puts them on display? Transvalers! let our festival song resound! There were our people stood fast, where our gunshots of joy resound, there is our fatherland, That wonderful land, that wonderful land, that is, that is our fatherland! Do you know the State, yet still a child among the States of the world, but nontheless by the mighty British power truly declared as free? Transvalers! Noble was your struggle, and painful our suffering, but God has given the outcome, and praise for our own State! Praise our God! Praise our God! Praise our God! Praise our God for land and State! In the first verse, "wapp'ren" and "dapp'ren" are poetic forms that omit the middle vowel. The same goes for "wond'ren" in the second verse. "Geknecht" means "reduced to the state of servants" (not quite slaves). In the third verse the word Statenrij has no exact equivalent in English, although English occasionally uses the same construction of ending a word with -ry to form a noun from a shorter one, as in "heraldry". "Statenrij" is perhaps best rendered as "the multitude of States" or "the variety of States" (independent states, that is). "Door't" is a typically Dutch construction which has disappeared from Afrikaans, except in one or two idioms, where the definite object "het" is reduced to its final letter and (sometimes) tagged onto the previous word. (North country English has a comparable usage, although this is a shortening of "the".) Mike Oettle, 04 Mar 2004 Vryheidslied On flipping through the FAK book I came across a song. The title is Vryheidslied. The lyrics are by Jan F E Celliers, and the music by Emiel Hullebroeck. The words are: Vrome vad're, fier en groot Deur vervolging, ramp en nood, was hul leuse, tot die dood: Vryheid! Vryheid! Erf'nis van hul moed en trou is die grond waar ons op bou. Juigend tot die hemel-blou: Vryheid! Vryheid! Ere wie die dood mag lei om te rus aan hulle sy, met die sterwenswoord te skei: Vryheid! Vryheid! Op dan, broers, en druk hul spoor, voorwaarts, broers, die vaandel voor, laat die veld ons krygsroep hoor: Vryheid! Vryheid! Woes geweld mag hoogty hou, kettings mag ons lede knou, maar die leuse bly ons trou: Vryheid! Vryheid! Jukke mag vir slawe wees, manneharte ken geen vrees, duld geen boei vir lyf of gees: Vryheid! Vryheid! Now the English translation: Pious fathers (ancestors), proud and brave Through persecution, disaster and need their motto, to the death, was: Freedom! Freedom! The heritage of their courage and faith is the land we build on. Joyful to the blue heavens: Freedom! Freedom! Honours to those led by death to rest at its side, uttering their final word: Freedom! Freedom! Up, then, brothers, and follow their tracks, forwards, brothers, the banner in front, may the veld hear our battle cry: Freedom! Freedom! Brutal force might with the day, chains may chafe our limbs, but to this motto we are faithful: Freedom! Freedom! Yokes may be for slaves, the hearts of men know no fear, tolerating no shackles for body or soul: Freedom! Freedom! Notes: The word "vader" translates as "father", and its usual plural is "vaders" ("fathers"). The plural form "vadere" (here poetically shortened to "vad're") means "ancestors". The word "lede" means "members", but is here an abbreviation of "ledemate" ("body parts" or "limbs"). "Ledemate" is used also of members of a church community, a reference to St Paul's description of the Church as being the Body of Christ, made up of people with different functions. The ordinary translation of "vaandel" is "ensign" (a naval ensign is a vlootvaandel), but in the poetic context, "banner" seems more appropriate. Mike Oettle, 14 April 2004 Vaarwel aan die Vierkleur Here are the lyrics of Vaarwel aan die Vierkleur, as they appear in the FAK-Sangbundel (Fourth Edition 1979, sixth printing of 2002) published by Protea Boekhuis for the Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge (FAK). I don't know if I've managed to turn out an acceptable rendition in English. The original is rather tearful I'm afraid. The word 'Vierkleur' I kept, 'Fourhue' rather sounds like a steed ridden by a LOTR character. To pronounce 'Vierkleur', say "veerckler" with -er as in 'her'. One strong image gets lost in translation, the word 'vlag' is feminine you see. Here goes: No longer may the Vierkleur wave, in tears we gave it up, it has been buried with our braves sunk into an honourable grave it has been buried with our braves sunk into an honourable grave. Happier those who fell when still the Flag was borne, than us who had to see and mourn it dragged into the dust than us who had to see and mourn it dragged into the dust. No happy morning for it there, we part from it forever now resting in the Nation's heart and dedicated to the Past now resting in the Nation's heart and dedicated to the Past. Blessed to those who bore it boldly to brave the prideful foe whose feeble arms to it did cling as they went to their death whose feeble arms to it did cling as they went to their death. Let Future Ages never forget them as long as men endure till even Heaven is outworn and Earth reels before its fall, till even Heaven is outworn and Earth reels before its fall. Jan Mertens, 30 Apr 2004 Die Vlaglied / The Song of the Flag Another flag song, this time abut the former South African flag called "Die Vlaglied" / "The Song of the Flag" which was composed by CJ Langenhoven, the composer of the former South African National Anthem "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" / "The Call of South Africa". This song was sung by a Children's Choir at the dedication ceremony marking the establishment of the Republic of South Africa held at the Cape Show Grounds in Cape Town on 31 May 1961. The English and Afrikaans versions are as follows: "The Song of the Flag" Cradled in beauty forever shall fly In the gold of her sunshine the blue of her sky, South Africa's pledge of her freedom and pride In their home by sacrifice glorified. By righteousness armed, we'll defend in our might The sign and the seal of our freedom and right, The emblem and loyalty, service and love; To our own selves true and to God above, Our faith shall keep what our hearts enthrone - The flag of the land that is all our own. "Die Vlaglied" Nooit hoef jou kinders wat trou is te vra: "Wat beteken jou vlag dan, Suid-Afrika?" On sweet hy's die seel van ons vryheid en reg Vir naaste en vreemde, vir oorman en kneg; Die pand van ons erf'nis, geslag op geslag, Om te hou vir ons kinders se kinder swat wag; Ons nasie se grondbrief van eiendomsland, Uitgegee op gesag van die Hoogste se hand. Oor ons hoof sal ons hys, in ons hart sal ons dra, Die vlag van ons eie Suid-Afrika. Bruce Berry, 31 Aug 2007 DIE VLAGLIED Die betekenis van 'n eie nasionale vlag word nêrens mooier en treffender besing as in die woorde van C.J. Langenhoven se Vlaglied nie. Die Vlaglied is slegs die laaste strofe van die gedig “Ons eie vlag”. Dit is deur F.J. Joubert getoonset. Nooit hoef jou kinders wat trou is te vra: Wat beteken jou vlag dan, Suid-Afrika? Ons weet hy's die seël van ons vryheid en reg Vir naaste en vreemde,vir oorman en kneg; Die pand van ons erf'nis,geslag op geslag, Om te hou vir ons kinders se kinders wat wag; Ons nasie se grondbrief van eiendomsland, Uitgegee op gesag van die Hoogste se hand. Oor ons hoof sal ons hys, in ons hart sal ons dra, Die vlag van ons eie Suid-Afrika. Which I translate as follows: THE FLAG SONG Nowhere the meaning of an own national flag is expressed more beautifully and fittingly than in the words of C.J. Langenhoven's Flag Song. This is the last stanza of the poem “Ons eie vlag” (Our own flag). It was set to music by F.J. Joubert. Never your children so faithful need ask: What does you flag mean then, South Africa? We know it's the seal of our freedom and rights For neighbour and stranger, for servant and boss; The pledge of our heritage, from parent to child To keep for our children's children to be The writ of our nation of the right to the land. That was written on authority of the Highest own hand We'll hoist ov'r our heads, and we'll hold in our heart The flag of our dearest South Africa Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 31 Aug 2007 The Fallen Flag While this is not a song about a flag (it has no tune that I am aware of), it is very much a poem about the vierkleur of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, and to my mind belongs with the South African flag songs which have already been posted to FOTW. This poem was published in England in 1902 as part of a collection entitled "Songs of the Veld". The book was banned in South Africa by the British military authorities at that time. A new edition of "Songs of the Veld" has just been published in Cape Town, with the addition of commentary and historical notes in both Afrikaans and English. The ISBN is 978-0-620-39432-1. THE FALLEN FLAG Inscribed to Albert Cartwright – The African Bonivard. Furl the fourfold banner, Lay that flag to rest; In the roll of honour – The brightest, bravest, best. Now no hand may wave it, O'er valley, pass or hill; Where thousands died to save it – The patriot hearts are still. It flew o'er proud Majuba, Where the victor farmers stood: O'er the tide of the Tugela – Dark-dyed with hostile blood. On Stormberg passes glorious – And o'er Ma'rsfontein* height, – Wher Cronje's host victorious Withstood the British might. But a prouder grander story Is the record of the band, Which surpassed all former glory, In the latest greatest stand. When ten to one outnumbered – Of hope and help bereft, On ground with graves encumbered, Defenders still were left. There were hero hearts to lead them, On the path where death was won; To float the flag of Freedom Where the eagle sees the sun. To keep the Vierkleur flying On every fortress hill; From the cold clasp of the dying There were hands to sieze it still. O Land, so fondly cherished – Endeared by patriot graves, – The soil where such have perished Is not the soil for slaves. From age to age your story Shall sound to other days: You leave your sons the glory That fallen flag to raise. O sacred smitten Nation, Crowned on thy Calvary, There's a day of restoration – An Easter Morn for Thee. Vierkleur, young hands shall grab thee – New armies round thee stand; Men whose fathers died shall clasp thee On the blood-bought Burghers' Land. * Magersfontein should thus be pronounced. [This footnote, explaining the spelling Ma'rsfontein, appears under the second stanza.] Mike Oettle, 18 Dec 2008 South African Music South African Music Afrikaans music Afrikaans music was primarily influenced by Dutch folk styles, along with French and German influences, in the early twentieth century. Zydeco-type string bands led by a concertina were popular, as were elements of American country music, especially Jim Reeves. Bushveld music based on the Zulu were reinterpreted by such singers as Marais and Miranda. Melodramatic and sentimental songs called trane trekkers (tear jerkers) were especially common. In 1979 the South African Music scene changed from the Tranetrekkers to more lively sounds and the introduction of new names in the market with the likes of Anton Goosen, David Kramer, Koos du Plessis, Fanie de Jager, and Laurika Rauch. Afrikaans music is currently one of the most popular and best selling industries on the South African music scene. SOUTH AFRICA MOVIE SHOWS The period after 1994 saw a dramatic growth in the popularity of Afrikaans music. Numerous new young Afrikaans singers (soloists and groups) released CDs and DVDs and attracted large audiences at "kunstefeeste" (art festivals) such as the "Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees - KKNK" in Oudtshoorn, "Aardklop" in Potchefstroom and "Innibos" in Nelspruit. Apart from dozens of new songs being introduced into the Afrikaans music market, it became popular for modern young artists to sing old Afrikaans songs on a stage or in a pub, with crowds of young admirers singing along. The reason for the dramatic increase in the popularity of Afrikaans music can only be speculated about. One theory is that the end of Apartheid in 1994 also meant the end of the privileged position that the Afrikaans culture had in South Africa. After losing the privileged protection and promotion of the language and the culture by the State, the Afrikaans-speaking community seems to have spontaneously started embracing and developing their language and culture. This was due to pop artists like Steve Hofmeyr, Nádine, Kurt Darren, and Nicolis Louw bringing a new fresh sound in Afrikaans Music. Many of the songs sung and/or written by these artist are similar in sound to Euro dance music. Critics would claim that all an Afrikaans pop artist needs for a song to be popular is a catchy tune and an easy beat. This is due to the massive popularity of a form of couples dancing called "langarm" or "sokkie". The dance halls where this takes place could be considered as night clubs but they play almost exclusively Afrikaans pop music. The Afrikaans pop music market therefore generates tremendous demand for new material. Bok van Blerk (Louis Andreas Pepler) born on March 30th 1978 grew up in Pretoria, South Africa. After finishing school at Die Wilgers, Bok van Blerk went to the Netherlands to play rugby for 9 months. He then studies construction and practised it for 7 years before starting his singing career. In 2005 he was approached by Sean Else and Johan Voster to become their production company’s first client (Mozi Records). In March 2006 he launched his first album “ Jy praat nog steeds my taal”. In October that year, the album got released again but under the title “De la Rey”. Since then this song has become hugely popular in the Afrikaner nation. The album became one of the top sellers in 2007. Up to know the album sold more than 200 000 copies, making it one of the most successful Afrikaans albums of all time. He won three Tempo awards, five Vonk awards and his video “De la Rey” won the MK music video of the year (2007) In 2007 Bok van Blerk helped produce the “Ons vir Jou” rugby music album, which sold over 90 000 copies. After the success of “De la Rey”, Bok van Blerk waited a quite a while before releasing his second album called “Afrikanerhart” which already achieved double platinum status. Since the start of his singing career in 2006, Bok has grown tremendously as an artist. That’s one of the reason he waited so long to release his second album, he wanted to wait for the right time to release it. Bok van Blerk as person loves nature, hunting, deep-sea fishing and music of course. He has made a huge impact on Afrikaner music in South Africa, not only did he provide us with brilliant music, Bok van Blerk helped bring the Afrikaner nation together again, he reminded us of our history and the “trots” we should have in being a Afrikaner that fought for our country. Bok van Blerk cds are making waves through out the country with his hot, orginal hits! Bok van Blerk cds oozes with wonderful culture. From the excellent hits like ’68 Cevy (Minki), Habana! En Hatfield right through to the heart warming “So waai die wind” and the powerful and unique hit for the nation….De La Rey. Currently Bok van Blerk cds include; “De la Rey” and “Afrikanerhart” but he also produced the rugby cd called “Ons vir jou Suid Afrika” The following Bok van Blerk cds are available to purchase: Bok van Blerk cds – De la Rey This is probably Bok van Blerk‘s most popular CD as it sold over 200 000 copies. It contains the popular song “De la Rey“. The Cd consist of the following songs: 1. Praat nog steeds my taal 2. De la Rey 3. Vodka en OJ 4. ’68 Chevy 5. Lenteblomme 6. Stuk van jou 7. Op Walvisbaai 8. Girls in bikinis 9. Die K*k moet end kry 10. Katie 11. Somer reen 12. Plek vir die maan 13. Habana 14. De la Rey (extended version) The CD was released in October 2006. Bok van Blerk cds – Afrikanerhart Bok van Blerk‘s second album “Afrikanerhart” was released in May 2009. The cd consist of the following songs: 1. Tyd om te trek 2. Afrikanerhart 3. Super Schalk 4. Brandewyn het nie brieke nie 5. Jou Pa is hier 6. Klaar met my 7. Die Kaplyn 8. My angel 9. Die kleur van my vel 10. Seilvis skoffel 11. Boeregirl 12. Miss U.S.A 13. Nooit weer gesien nie 14. Sink of swem 15. Pa en seun Bok van Blerk + Various Artists – Ons vir Jou Suid-Afrika This Cd is mainly dedicated to South African rugby. It contains some of the best South African artists including Bok van Blerk and Robbie Wessels. the cd consist of the following songs: 1. Ons vir jou Suid Afrika – Duet met Bok van Blerk en Robbie Wessels 2. Go Bokke! (“I’m gonna walk 500miles”) – Robbie Wessels 3. Spickerish – Bok van Blerk 4. Bokkoors (“Eye of the tiger”) – Robbie Wessels 5. Hak hom Blokkies – Theuns Jordaan 6. Dik nek en klein tandjies – Bok van Blerk 7. Habana – Bok van Blerk 8. Wie trou dan op ‘n final – Bok van Blerk 9. Shosholoza – Coleske 10. Hokkaai – Thys die Bosveldklong 11. Trek aan jou trui – Hugo 12. Is jy Bang – Eden 13. Bel, bel , bel man – Liani May 14. Boeremusiek RugbMedley – So speel die boere 15. Verewig Suid Afrika – Drie van die Beste Steve Hofmeyr (born 29 August 1964) is a South African singer, songwriter and actor. Hofmeyr married actress Natasha Sutherland, whom he had met on the set of Egoli: Place of Gold in 1998, they had two sons, Sebastian, born 13 December 2001 and Benjamin, born later (Hofmeyr also has a few children by other women.. In total, Hofmeyr has five children. The couple was divorced after reports of numerous affairs dominated Hofmeyr's time in the spotlight in 2008.In December 2008, Hofmeyr allegedly assaulted Miss Esmaré Weideman, editor of Huisgenoot, a popular Afrikaans magazine, by pouring a cup of cold tea over her at the Miss South Africa finals. He was said to have blamed her and two other journalists for his divorce from Sutherland. Miss Weideman subsequently dropped her accusations In January 2007 there were reports that one branch of the News Cafe restaurant chain would not play Hofmeyr's song Pampoen (Pumpkin). The managing director of the company that owns the franchise denies that this is company policy and points out that many Afrikaans acts, such as Karen Zoid and Arno Carstens have performed at News Cafe. On 12 May 2011, Hofmeyr released the lyrics to his new song called "Ons sal dit oorleef", which means "We will survive this". The song is controversial, because Hofmeyr has threatened to include the word "kaffir" (the common Arabic word meaning "infidel" used by the British and the Boers in the 19th and early 20th century to refer to blacks in the context of his song, but today a very derogatory name for the black population of South Africa) in the lyrics of the song should a judge rule in favour of Julius Malema. When the presiding judge, Leon Halgryn ruled that "... the publication and chanting of the words 'dubula ibhunu', prima facie satisfies the crime of incitement to murder," Hofmeyr removed the offensive word in his song also,citing that the word would offend his black friends and colleagues. Malema is currently on trial for the singing the song "Shoot The Boer", a song argued to be inciting violence upon ethnic Boers, white South Africans, particularly farmers. Some people see the murder of Eugène Terre'Blanche as an example of violence provoked by this song. Emo Adams Bobby Angel Arno Carstens Chris Chameleon Mimi Coertse Jacques de Coning Janita Claassens Zirk Bergh Helene Bester Bok van Blerk Piet van Blerk Jan Blohm Thys die Bosveldklong Mel Botes Danie Botha Piet Botha Louis Brittz Liza Brönner Clive Bruce Johan Brug Retief Burger Kurt Darren Izak Davel Al Debbo Tommy Dell Ray Dillan Dowwe Dolla Dozi Fanie de Jager Dennis East Erica Eloff Billy Forrest David Fourie Freda Francis Albert Frost Ghapi Anton Goosen Die Grafsteensangers Guillaume Theuns Jordaan is a South African singer and songwriter born on 10 January 1971. His first career moves had him spend long nights at restaurants in the area around the University of Stellenbosch, a university in the Western Cape Province, where he had been studying industrial psychology. His first performance was on 21 October 1992 at a local bar called Upstairs. Having had immersed himself in the local music scene, Theuns started composing his own lyrics, which resulted in five songs in his debut album, Vreemde Stad. After he completed his studies, Theuns spent a year as an entrepreneur. In October 1998 he moved from the Cape to Gauteng - specifically Pretoria. After gaining popularity in the city, he recorded his debut album, Vreemde Stad, in Stellenbosch. This album was released in 2000 at an arts festival, the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees. EMI released Vreemde Stad shortly after this and the album surpassed triple platinum status (150 000 copies) in July 2003. He launched his second album, Tjailatyd at the Aardklop music festival in 2002, which also sold more than 150, 000 records. The South African guitar player, Anton L'Amour, performed with Theuns and was responsible for all the guitar tracks in Vreemde Stad and Tjailatyd.Theuns Jordaan's singing is characterized by his deeply emotive bass voice. His music has been said to be "faintly bluesly, radio-friendly", with his lyrics "infused with a mournful love of South Africa". Albums Vreemde stad (1999) Klein Verbond Onthou Jy Nog Skipskop Makiesakie Beautiful In Beaufort-Wes Sonvanger Visserman Skielik Is Jy Vry Vreemde Stad Lalie Hakieshart Sien Jou Weer Loslappie Mengelmoes Liedjieboer Mengelmoes Tjailatyd (2002) Soos Bloed Hanne Gesiggle Straattroebadoere As Ek Vra Tjallatyd Hoe Draai Die Wind Dan Nou Moenie Vermiste Mense Alleen Sonder Jou Buitekant Waar Was Jy Loslappie Medley: Dis Julle Wat Die Wind, Transkaroo, Coca-Cola-Nooi, Bloometjie Gedenk Aan My, Silver De Lange, Halala Afrika, Huisie By Die See, Pampoene Seisoen (2005) Jou asem Hillbrow Skadu in die nag Namibsroos Ek roep jou naam Stofpad Praat is te laat Wie weet Donkerpad Bietjie van my Huise van glas Jukebox medley:Kalbassies,Travel in Staail,Hex-Vallei,City/Stad,Meisie sonner sokkies,Die skoene moe Groet sonder woorde Juanita du Plessis Sonja Herholdt Laurinda Hofmeyr Steve Hofmeyr Karin Hougaard Hugo Rina Hugo Bobby van Jaarsveld Hennie Jacobs Lance James Joggie Johnny & Vivian Johrné Greta Jones Watkin Tudor Jones Arno Jordaan Theuns Jordaan Johannes Kerkorrel Carike Keuzenkamp Robbie Klay Lochner de Kock Koos Kombuis Gé Korsten Pieter Koen Karin Kortje David Kramer Joey Lane Riku Lätti Virginia Lee Kevin Leo Patricia Lewis Lienka Jakkie Louw Nicholis Louw Glenys Lynne Lucas Maree Lianie May George Meiring Trevor Nasser Nádine Nataniël Riana Nel Fredi Nest Rudi Neitz Nianell Joe Niemand Zak van Niekerk Jack Parow Jaco du Plessis Juanita du Plessis Gert Potgieter Jacques du Preez Karla du Plessis Koos du Plessis Vicki du Preez Jak de Priester Adam Tas Jacques Terry Jannie du Toit Laurika Rauch Barbara Ray Paul Riekert Mathys Roets Anneli van Rooyen André Schwartz Min Shaw Johan Small Piet Smit Pieter Smith Snotkop Christo Snyman Christa Steyn Etienne Steyn Gerhard Steyn Amanda Strydom Wynand Strydom Blackie Swart Valiant Swart Sonja Herholdt is an Afrikaner singer-songwriter and actress. Herholdt was born in the small Gauteng mining village of Nigel, Gauteng and at the age of three made her first singing performance at the local community recreation hall, singing the Afrikaans lullaby Slaap, my Kindjie.She attended the Afrikaans-medium Tienie Vorster Primary and John Vorster High School where she became Head Girl in both and followed her theatrical pursuits. She later obtained a diploma cum laude in Teaching after three years at the Johannesburg (Goudstad) College of Education. She gave up teaching to pursue music after meeting her future husband, FC Hamman. The couple married in 1976 and started a family, their youngest son later developed an extreme hearing impairment in 1993. Herholdt subsequently decided to start a school for hearing and linguistically impaired Afrikaans children, this was housed in the pre-primary section of Bryanston Primary School. This resulted in Herholdt returning to teach for a period of time. In 1996, Herholdt was involved in a serious car accident. She and her husband subsequently divorced after 21 years of marriage.In collaboration with Carel Cronjé, she released her autobiography in 2007 Sonja: Meisie van Nigel. Later that year she was injured in a robbery on the way home from Cronjé's Johannesburg home ,Herholdt has recorded several albums and singles since the 1970s; Albums Sonja (1976) Sonja Herholdt (1977) On stage/In die kalklig (1978) Waterblommetjies (1978) 'n Lied vir Kersfees (1979) Harlekyn (Gold) (1979) Grootste Treffers (1980) Waarom Daarom (1981) Reflections (1982) Liefdeslig (1984) Lofsang - Sonja Herholdt en Jan de Wet (1985) Dis net vir jou (1987) Sonja Herholdt sing die Jeugsangbundel (1987) Sonja Herholdt sing die Jeugsangbundel 2 (1988) Tuiskoms (1988) Die Klokkespel 'Vrede (1989) The Warrior is a Child (1989) 'n Ster Vanaand (1994) Tuiskoms (1995) More sal die son weer skyn (1996) Ritsel in die Rietbos (1998) Reconstructing Alice (2000) Sonjare 20 Gunsteling treffers Dis Kersfees Sonja Herholdt Skipskop Die mense wat ek liefhet*Gunsteling treffers (1992) Sê die engele moet kyk na my (1994) Die verhale van vrouwees She She The Princess Liefling die movie Pêrels Barbara Veenemans Bennie Veenemans Leonore Veenemans Michelle Veenemans André de Villiers Yolandi Visser Amor Vittone Jacques Viviers Casper de Vries Jody Wayne Robbie Wessels Richard van der Westhuizen Randall Wicomb Arina de Witt Piet van Wyk de Vries Gérard Korsten (popularly known as Gé) (6 December 1927 – 29 September 1999) was a South African opera tenor and actor who had a great influence on Afrikaans culture. Born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands as the youngest of eight children, Korsten and his family emigrated to South Africa when he was nine years old. He married Elna Burger and had five children, among them renowned conductor and violinist Gérard Korsten.Initially he worked as an electrician, but from the age of 20, started singing in choirs. However, he received his first formal vocal training in 1952, when he was well into his 20s, studying under Adelheid Armhold at the South African College of Music.In 1955 he moved to Pretoria, where he was one of the founder members of the Pretoria opera company. In 1956, he debuted as Canio in Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. Korsten won a bursary to study in Vienna in 1962, where he received tuition under Judith Hellwig. During this period he had the opportunity to perform in Vienna and Munich, but he never sang professionally outside South Africa, mainly due to family considerations. It was only in 1970 that Korsten sold his business to devote himself to full-time singing. In the course of his operatic career, Korsten appeared on stage more than 3,000 times, playing 23 roles in most of the major operas. In 1965, Korsten started his career in light music, with his album Gé Korsten Sing Uit Die Hart (English: Gé Korsten Sings From The Heart), and soon became a best-selling recording artist, with a career spanning 40 years. Nine of his 58 albums achieved gold status. Most of his recorded work is light Afrikaans music, including the song "Liefling" (English: Sweetheart), which is still performed at rugby matches in Bloemfontein and Pretoria. His popularity as a singer also led to lead roles in films such as Hoor My Lied (English: Hear My Song), Lied In My Hart (English: Song In My Heart) and A New Life, all of which included singing scenes. He received six Sarie awards and, in 1979, an ARTES award for his TV program Gé Sing (English: Gé Sings). In his later life, Korsten was well known for his role as family patriarch Walt Vorster in the long-running South African soap opera Egoli: Place of Gold.In 1985 he was appointed the managing director of the Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB) in Cape Town, a post which he held until 1989. Kurt Darren is in Pretoria gebore en het aan die Hoërskool Lyttelton Manor matrikuleer. Hy het sy besondere sangtalent by sy ma geërf. Op skool het Kurt aan verskeie musiekspele deelgeneem, en meen dat hy al van jongs af in musiek belang gestel het.Wat min mense weet is dat Kurt ten volle tweetalig is, te danke aan sy pa wat Afrikaanssprekend en sy ma wat Engelssprekend is. Sy ongelooflike talent as liedjieskrywer en sanger, in beide tale, het sy gretigheid om in albei tale te vermaak, en mee te voer, verwesenlik. Na matriek is Kurt weermag toe en doen hy sy basies in Walvisbaai. Sy wens was om aan die weermag se vermaaklikheidsgroep te behoort, en dit gebeur toe ook so. So toer hy vir n jaar saam met die boere-orkeslede van die weermag, en besef dat hy sy lewenslange droom, om 'n sanger te word, wil najaag. Hy word toe afgeraai deur mense wat sê dat hy nie 'n bestaan kan maak deur 'n sanger te word nie.Hy probeer toe maar 'n paar ander beroepe, soos om 'n wildbewaarder te word in die Kruger Nasionale Wildtuin, (die natuur lê hom baie na aan die hart), en tree ook as toergids op. Met meeste van sy familie in die boubedryf, beproef hy dit ook, maar nie vir lank nie. Kurt besluit toe om voltyds te begin sing. Dertien jaar lank het Kurt, balladesanger, roerloos op 'n stoeltjie met 'n mikrofoon gesit by korporatiewe geleenthede, kroeë en ander klein vergader-plekke. Van die een dorp na die volgende, het Kurt sy eie klankgereedskap vervoer, afgelaai, opgestel, afgestel en weer opgelaai. Hy het ook sy eie klank gedoen. Kurt is trots om te noem dat hy deur sy sangloopbaan al deel was van 'n paar "groepe", hierdie sluit in, onder andere: "Deep Blue" en "Keep Your Day Job". Hy het altyd geweet dat sy deurbraak gaan kom. Toe tree hy drie maande lank op 'n passasierskip op, verloor 'n paar kilogram en sny sy hare (vir die wat nie weet nie, Kurt se hare was skouerlengte vir n hele rukkie). En toe is hy reg en energiek vir "Meisie Meisie" - en die roem - toe dit eensklaps oor sy pad kom in 2002.Deesdae toer Kurt die land vol, en selfs buitelands, op 'n groeiende basis. Sy eerste album "For Your Precious Love" was in 1995 uitgereik, en daarna het hy die uitsonderlike geluk gehad om al die volgende albums op te neem, wat in chronologiese orde gelys word: • 1997 - "Kurt Darren". • 1998 - "Just When I Needed You Most". • 1999 - "Since I Found You". • 2001 - "Net Jy Alleen". • 2002 - "Meisie Meisie". * Met sy album "Meisie Meisie" het hy sy deurbraak in die Afrikaanse musiekbedryf in 2002 bewerkstellig. Kurt se reuse treffer, Meisie Meisie, maak steeds duike in die dansvloer en was een van die Top3 treffers van 2002! Dit is gedurende die opname van hierdie album dat Kurt liedjies begin skryf het saam met twee ongelooflike, inspirerende en talentvolle mense: Don Kelly en Marc Brendon. Hierdie trio komplimenteer mekaar tot vandag nog met die samestelling van lirieke vir nuwe liedjies. • 2003 - "Sê Net Ja". • 2004 - "Staan Op". • 2005 - "Vat My, Maak My Joune". • 2006 - "Lekker Lekker". • 2007 - "Voorwaarts Mars". • 2008 - "Uit Die Diepte Van My Hart". Hy is al lank bedrywig met musiek en van sy grootste drome is bewaarheid. Naas 'n dosyn solo-albums, pryk sy trefferstem ook op vele saamgestelde CD's.Kurt is al vir sewe agtereenvolgende albums besig om die golf van sukses te ondervind, hy is van plan om nog vir n baie lang tyd in die bedryf te bly en mense te vermaak met sy musikale talent. Hy het 'n ongelooflike passie vir musiek, en wil sy Godgegewe gawe met ieder en elk deel. 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South Africa is a nature lover's paradise, with its diverse landscapes and wildlife. Camping and hiking are popular activities for those who want to explore the country natural beauty up close. From the rugged Drakensberg Mountains to the stunning coastline of the Western Cape, there are endless opportunities for adventure and discovery. So pack your bags, grab your boots, and get ready for an unforgettable experience in South Africa's great outdoors. Welcome to the ultimate guide to the best camping places in South Africa! From the lush forests of Mpumalanga to the rugged coastline of the Western Cape, we've got you covered with top spots to pitch your tent in each of the provinces. Get ready to experience the beauty of South Africa's great outdoors like never before. GAUTENG WESTERN CAPE NORTHERN CAPE LIMPOPO MPUMALANGA NORTH WEST KWAZULU NATAL FREESTATE EASTERN CAPE Campsites in Limpopo Province is located in the far northern part of South Africa and shares borders with three neighboring countries: Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The capital is Polokwane (previously Pietersburg). Other major cities and towns include Bela-Bela (Warmbad), Lephalale (Ellisras), Makhado (Louis Trichardt), Musina (Messina), Thabazimbi and Tzaneen. It is a land of beautiful and contrasting landscapes, which is typical of Africa. It has become a favourite destination for leisure and adventure travellers worldwide. The network of protected areas and nature reserves is amongst the best on the African continent. The spectatular mountain scenery, beckons hikers, climbers and bikers. The cultural destinations intrigue both local and international tourists. The game viewing is absolutely fantastic and possibly the best in the country. Limpopo landscape and vegetation varies from one area to the other. The vegetation ranges from Tropical Forests, Bush and Shrubs to semi-desert areas with small trees and bushes. The landscape also ranges from mountainous to flat land. Limpopo is the only Province in South Africa with more than two cultural groups staying together in their original habitat in harmony. Other ethnic groups include the English and Afrikaner people. English is regarded as a business language but other native languages of the province include Tshivenda, Sepedi, Xitsonga, Setswana, Isindebele and Afrikaans. ​ List Of Camping Sites In Limpopo Moriti Bush Camps ​ N11 Road 3,5 Km From The Groblersbridge Border Post, Tomburke website routenplaner AfriCamps Magoebaskloof ​ L4 2, Magoebaskloof, Cheerio Gardens, Mopani · Geschlossen · Öffnet morgen um 09:00 website routenplaner Silver Rocks Caravan Park ​ De Nyl Zyn Oog Rd, R101, Modimolle-Mookgophong · website routenplaner AfriCamps Hoedspruit Campingplatdspruit · Geschlossen · Öffnet morgen um 09:00 website routenplaner Kaoxa Bush Camp ​ Alldays Kostenloses Parken · Kostenloses WLAN · Swimmingpool ​ Bela Bela Campsites in Bela Bela Things to do in Bela Bela Bela-Bela is located in the Waterbergregion of the Limpopo Province and is ideally located off the N1 highway between Pretoria and Polokwane. Previously named Warmbaths, the Tswana tribes were the first to encounter the therapeutic hot springs in the early 1800’s, and named it Bela-Bela, meaning “the water that boils on its own”. Today the town boasts an extensive spa and holiday resort. Bela-Bela’s hot springs are located on the grounds of the Forever Resorts Warmbaths, who also host the 5150 Bela-Bela Triathlon. The climate inBela-Bela is mild during the winter months in South Africa with a majority of sunny days in the year which adds to the popularity of this destination. Visit: https://www.bela-bela-info.co.za/town Camping Sites In Gauteng Cast & Catch Fishing & Camping Fishing charter Plot, Pretora · Closed · Opens tomorrow 06:00 website directions Rocky Valley Christian Camp And Retreat Centre Mogale City website directions Jabula Bush Camp PRETORIA Airport shuttle · Swimming pool · Smoke-free rooms website directions See more results Rainforest Boutique Camp Agoda 30 Angelica Avenue Breaunanda, Krugersdorp website routenplaner ​ Camping Sites In Western Cape Kromrivier Cederberg Park ​ Cederberg Free parking · Free Wi-Fi · Business center · Restaurant website directions Wolfkop Camping Villages ​ Grootfontein Farm, Keerom Rd, Citrusdal · Open 24 hours website directions Rivierplaas Campsite ​ Rivierplaas Campsite, Scerpenheuwel, Worcester, Worcester, South Africa · website Camping Sites In Northern Cape Fiddlers Creek Campsite Campground Plot 26, Kotzeshoop, Vioolsdrif · website directions Richtersveld Wilderness Camp ​ Modderdrift-South, Vioolsdrif · website directions Kameeldoring Camping ​ Next to Augrabies falls national park, Augrabies · website directions Augrabies Rest Camp ​ Augrabies Falls National Park · website directions Broadwater River Estate Siyancuma website Camping Sites In Mpumalanga The Park Shop - Lower Sabie Rest Camp Holidaycheck · Grocery store ​ website directions Under The Stars Camping Plot 370 Brommers Plaas, Barberton · website directions Sabie River Camp 30 Plaaswaterval, Sabie · Closed · Opens tomorrow 08:00 website directions Syeta Tented Bush Camp ​ 26 Uitkyk Road, Nelspruit · directions Dullstroom on The Dam ​ Dullstroom website Camping Sites In North West South Africa Mosetlha Bush Camp & Eco Lodge ​ Madikwe Game Reserve Restaurant · Bar/lounge website directions TangleWood Nature Estate ​ Portion 42, Naauwpoort Farm 385 Boskop Dam, Potchefstroom · website directions Dube Private Game Reserve ​ Warmbad Street, Brits · website directions River Run Family Camp Site Campground 709 Ongegun Destrik, Vredefort · website directions Rust Oord Bushveld Camp ​ 410 Farm B, Brits · website directions See more results Camping Sites In Kwazulu Natal South Africa Salt Rock Caravan Park Campground 5 Hotel Road, Salt Rock · ​ Closed · Opens tomorrow 07:00 website directions Richards Bay Caravan Park Campground CNR Krewelkring U0026 Hibberd Drive, Meerensee, Richards Bay Closed · Opens tomorrow 07:00 website directions Dolphin Holiday resort Ballito Free parking · Swimming pool website directions See more results Camping Sites In Eastern Cape South Africa Nature's Rest Prince George Circuit, East London · website directions Yellowwood Forest Morgan Bay Campground 661 Link Rd, Yellowwood Forest, Morgan's Bay · website directions Mountain Zebra National Park National park 25 Km Outside Cradock, Cradock · Closed · Opens tomorrow 07:00 website directions Rendezvous Caravan Park CHINTSA WEST,RENDEZVOUS, EAST LONDON · Open 24 hours website directions Cefani Beach Resort CINTSA EAST, AMATOLA COASTAL · website directions See more results Camping Sites In Free State South Africa Dinkoeng Tented Camp And Adventure 12 Leratong Village Dinkoeng Tented Camp & Adventure Dinkoeng Tented Camp, Monontsha, Phuthaditjhaba · website directions Didima Camp Campground Winterton · website directions Zuikerkop Country Game Lodge Clocolan Free breakfast · Free parking · Free Wi-Fi website directions See more results BACK TO TOP

South African Arts The art of the peoples of South Africa is the oldest known art in the world, dating back over 100,000 years. The archeological discoveries there help scholars to date the evolution of cognition and intelligent progression. South African art in the modern era is influenced and molded by the trials of the South African people under apartheid and the years of European involvement in the area expressed in the found art of Africans making sense of modern traditions, and the Dutch influence on both white and black artists. With the many tribes, languages, cultures, and races of South Africa, there is a very diverse and eclectic art scene in historical and contemporary South Africa.The very beginnings of art, not just for South Africa, but for the world, were found at the Blombos cave. This ancient art studio contained paint pots in the form of shells that were used to store mixed paints from disparate sources. This proved to archeologists that early man may have been more sophisticated than previously thought. Whatever it was that they painted, be it clothing, faces, or the walls of the caves, the South African climate, particular in this sea cave is not conducive to the permanent survival of art. What has been found of ancient South African art are the cave paintings of the Khoisan, San, and Bushman tribes dating to 10,000 BC. Other cave painters left behind scenes of hunting and domestic life, and also of spiritual and magical art. The colors used are derived from nature and are therefore mostly in earth tones such as black, yellow, red, orange, white, and gray. “The drawings don’t start with ‘a beautiful mark’. It has to be a mark of something out there in the world. It doesn’t have to be an accurate drawing, but it has to stand for an observation, not something that is abstract, like an emotion”. – William Kentridge Cave scenes portray battles and hunts, animals, dancing, and later, white hunters on horseback. The figures are shown in long forms in action and some figures that are either dancing or participating in the shamanic rituals are costumed in clothing in unusual patterns and prints and are often wearing masks. It is unknown if these are people drawn from life, or if these represent symbolic characters. The symbols, themes, and subjects of the South African cave paintings are similar to what is seen in cave and rock paintings all over the world. European Influence The Boers, better known as the Dutch, and the English came to South Africa in the mid-19th century and the art of the Europeans that remained and the traditional art of the indigenous tribal people began to mix. The end of the 19th century spurred some artists to move away from this mixed art and begin studying art in realism, creating a unique art free from both European and native influences.Under European colonization, the native people suffered under racial segregation and prejudice. The English established museums, universities, art schools, and other education opportunities, but they were not ones open to the indigenous. However, white intellectuals and artists seeking inspiration from the art and culture of the African people sought them out and some artistic instruction was imparted by collaboration.As the tide of the world was changing to strive for respect of all peoples, the artists of South Africa, both white and black began to protest against apartheid, and against the cultural boycott on South Africa. Their success led to South African artists stepping up to a level global playing field. South African Art Key Highlights South Africa is home to the Thupelo Workshop, an annual workshop that brings artists from all over the world to share the diversity of artistic style, technique, and motivation with the global community of artists. The San culture are hunter-gatherers that are still in existence, but as their culture fades and there are fewer San artists, galleries are stepping in to help keep their art and culture alive. The lack of galleries on the Cape has given artists in that area freedom of expression without the restriction of pleasing the intellectual middle classes. The Ndebele tribe is known for its graphics geometric paintings on houses. The paints used were traditionally made from natural sources, but the Ndebele are now sometimes being supplied with commercial paints. Because of the rampant poverty in South Africa, poor artists use found media to create art. The talent and vision of the South African people is evident in the beauty they are able to create from these materials. For instance, baskets spiraling in vivid bright colors look to be made from highly died natural materials but are, in fact, made from telephone wires. South African Art Top Works: San Bushmen Rock Paintings – Drakensberg Mountains Elephants Charging over Quartos Country – Thomas Baines An Extensive View of Farmlands – JH Pierneef Pretoria Mural – Walter Battiss Song of the Pick – Gerard Sekoto The Rice Lady – Vladimir Tretchikoff The Conservationists Ball – William Kentridge The Butcher Boys – Jane Alexander Ndebele Beadwork Zulu Baskets ​ South African art is the visual art produced by the people inhabiting the territory occupied by the modern country of South Africa. The oldest art objects in the world were discovered in a South African cave. Archaeologists have discovered two sets of art kits thought to be 100,000 years old at a cave in South Africa. The findings provide a glimpse into how early humans produced and stored ochre – a form of paint – which pushes back our understanding of when evolved complex cognition occurred by around 20,000 – 30,000 years. Also, dating from 75,000 years ago, they found small drilled snail shells could have no other function than to have been strung on a string as a necklace. South Africa was one of the cradles of the human species. The scattered tribes of Khoisan and San peoples moving into South Africa from around 10000 BC had their own art styles seen today in a multitude of cave paintings] They were superseded by Bantu and Nguni peoples with their own vocabularies of art forms. In the present era, traditional tribal forms of art were scattered and re-melded by the divisive policies of apartheid. New forms of art evolved in the mines and townships: a dynamic art using everything from plastic strips to bicycle spokes. In addition to this, there also is the Dutch-influenced folk art of the Afrikaner Trek Boers and the urban white artists earnestly following changing European traditions from the 1850s onwards, making for an eclectic mix which continues to evolve today. ​ Paleolithic rock art Main article: San rock art San rock paintings, Perdekop Farm, (Mossel Bay , South Africa) The pre-Bantu peoples migrating southwards from around the year 30,000 BC were nomadic hunters who favoured caves as dwellings. Before the rise of the Nguni peoples along the east and southern coasts and central areas of Africa these nomadic hunters were widely distributed. It is thought they entered South Africa at least 1000 years ago. They have left many signs of life, such as artwork (San paintings) depicting hunting, domestic and magic-related art. There is a stylistic unity across the region and even with more ancient art in the Tassili n'Ajjer region of northern Africa, and also in what is now desert Chad but was once a lush landscape. The figures are dynamic and elongate, and the colours (derived probably from earthen and plant pigments and possibly also from insects) combine ochreous red, white, grey, black, and many warm tones ranging from red through to primary yellow. Common subjects include hunting, often depicting with great accuracy large animals which no longer inhabit the same region in the modern era, as well as: warfare among humans, dancing, domestic scenes, multiple images of various animals, including giraffes, antelope of many kinds, and snakes. The last of these works are poignant in their representation of larger, darker people and even of white hunters on horseback, both of whom would supplant the San peoples. Many of the "dancing" figures are decorated with unusual patterns and may be wearing masks and other festive clothing. Other paintings, depicting patterned quadrilaterals and other symbols, are obscure in their meaning and may be non-representational. Similar symbols are seen in shamanistic art worldwide. This art form is distributed from Angola in the west to Mozambique and Kenya , throughout Zimbabwe and South Africa and throughout Botswana wherever cave conditions have favoured preservation from the elements. ​ Black art post-apartheid The Bantu Education Act of 1955 barred Black South Africans from receiving formal art training during the years of apartheid and as a result, the artistic movements that had originated from this community have, until recently, been distinctly classified as “craft” rather than “art.” Informal art centers, that were funded by European states, became one of the few avenues in which Black South Africans could receive some form of artistic development. Throughout this time period from 1947 to the mid-1990s, the first practitioners to receive this informal training began passing down their knowledge to younger generations of practitioners. However, the traditional canon of African art, categorized as “fine art” had been formed in the 20th century by European and U.S. art audiences. South Africa's inequality gap is larger than that of other countries in the world so the audience for art is primarily the rich and not those who are subject to the artistic expression, giving these higher socio-economic groups a gatekeeper status in deciding what is classified as art. After the Soweto Riots of 1976, a new social consciousness emerged that retaliated against the government's policy of segregation and effectively reexamined the classification of certain Black South African artworks. One of the first artistic styles to receive critic attention was Venda sculpting because it aesthetically appealed to white patrons while also maintaining its “artistic manifestations of ethnic diversity.” These sculptures would be considered “transitional art” rather than “craft” and would gain access into fine art galleries. Other Black artistic expressions such as beadwork, photography, and studio arts have also begun to be slowly integrated into canonical South African art forms. The Johannesburg Biennale's Africus (1995) and Trade Routes (1997) had a significant impact on the cultural awareness of new South African art. These events were among the first exhibitions that revealed the “new South African art” to the international community, but also other local South Africans. This gave Black South African artists a new platform to express the effects to which apartheid had influenced society. In the post-apartheid regime, artists have now been given an apparatus to protest social issues such as inequality, sexuality, state control over the personal realm, and HIV/AIDS. However, the emphasis to embody many of these social issues within Black South African art has a led to a stereotype that many young artists are now trying to escape. International pressure has been said to once again demand a level of ‘authenticity’ within South African art that portrays discourse on the topic of apartheid. Scholar Victoria Rovine goes as far as to state that “these exhibitions represent a South Africa that seeks liberation not from apartheid itself but from apartheid as an already predictable subject for artistic production.” Furthermore, although South African art is not always political, conversations stemming from its interpretation are rarely apolitical and the high demand for apartheid symbols by private collectors have raised concerns over the collection of the art for the sake of nostalgia ​ BACK TO TOP

Search Results All (109) Blog Posts (9) Other Pages (93) Forum Posts (7) 109 items found for "" Blog Posts (9) Embark on an Unforgettable Journey: South Africa Safari Information Are you ready to delve into the enchanting world of wild landscapes, majestic wildlife, and unforgettable adventures? A South Africa safari offers a unique blend of adrenaline-pumping experiences and serene encounters with nature that will leave you in awe. Let's dive into everything you need to know about embarking on a safari in South Africa! The Magic of South Africa Safaris Exploring the vast savannahs of South Africa, witnessing the Big Five up close, and immersing yourself in the heart of untamed wilderness - this is the allure of a South Africa safari. The country's diverse landscapes, ranging from lush forests to expansive plains, create the perfect backdrop for an adventure of a lifetime. Planning Your Safari Adventure Best Time to Visit For the optimal safari experience, plan your trip during the dry season from May to September. During this period, wildlife congregates around water sources, offering unparalleled opportunities for game viewing. Top Safari Destinations Kruger National Park Home to a staggering array of wildlife species, including lions, elephants, and rhinos, Kruger National Park is a must-visit destination for any safari enthusiast. Sabi Sands Game Reserve Renowned for its high density of leopards and luxurious lodges, Sabi Sands provides an exclusive and intimate safari experience. Addo Elephant National Park As the third-largest national park in South Africa, Addo Elephant National Park is a haven for elephant lovers and offers a unique coastal safari experience. Accommodation Options Luxury Lodges : Indulge in opulent comfort amidst the wilderness while enjoying top-notch amenities and personalized service. Tented Camps : Immerse yourself in the sounds of the bush at authentic tented camps, connecting with nature on a deeper level. Budget-Friendly Options : For the budget-conscious traveler, there are affordable accommodation choices that don't compromise on the safari experience. Safari Activities Game Drives Embark on thrilling game drives with experienced guides who will lead you through the bush, unveiling the secrets of the wild and ensuring memorable encounters with elusive wildlife. Bush Walks Explore the savannah on foot and witness the intricate details of the ecosystem, from tracks in the sand to the calls of birds overhead. Night Safaris Unveil the nocturnal world of the bush on a night safari, where the darkness reveals a new cast of characters, including elusive predators and mesmerizing insects. Safari Etiquette and Conservation Respect Wildlife : Maintain a safe distance from animals and refrain from making loud noises or sudden movements that could disturb them. Support Conservation Efforts : By choosing eco-friendly lodges and supporting local conservation initiatives, you contribute to the preservation of South Africa's precious wildlife. Conclusion: A Safari to Remember In conclusion, a South Africa safari is a transformative experience that combines the thrill of adventure with the tranquility of nature. Whether you're a seasoned safari-goer or a first-time explorer, the riches of South Africa's wildlife await you. Pack your bags, prepare your camera, and get ready to embark on an unforgettable journey through the heart of the African bush! Let the call of the wild lead you on a path of discovery and wonder as you immerse yourself in the magic of a South Africa safari. Unleash your inner explorer and create memories that will last a lifetime amidst the untamed beauty of the African wilderness. So, are you ready to embark on this extraordinary adventure? The wonders of South Africa's wild spaces beckon – will you answer the call? p.s. Don't forget your hat and sunscreen! Website Name: https://riseingsouthernstar-africa.de.tl/Home.htm Discover the Wonders of South Africa: History, Wildlife, and the Big Five Game Welcome to the vibrant world of South Africa, a land rich in history, diverse wildlife, and the majestic Big Five game. Join us as we delve into the heart of this mesmerizing country and uncover the wonders that await you on your South African adventure. Unraveling South African History South Africa's history is a tapestry woven with tales of triumph, struggle, and resilience. From the ancient civilizations that once roamed its plains to the era of colonization and the fight for freedom, the country's past is both captivating and poignant. Image: The story of South Africa is one of diversity, with influences from indigenous tribes, Dutch settlers, British colonizers, and many others shaping its cultural landscape. Exploring historical sites such as Robben Island, the Apartheid Museum, and the Cradle of Humankind provides a glimpse into the country's past and the resilience of its people. Embracing South Africa's Wildlife One cannot speak of South Africa without mentioning its incredible wildlife. The country is a paradise for nature enthusiasts, boasting a dazzling array of flora and fauna that thrive in its varied ecosystems. From the lush jungles of Kruger National Park to the arid deserts of the Kalahari, South Africa is home to a stunning diversity of species. Embark on a thrilling safari adventure and witness the iconic Big Five game – the lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros, and buffalo – in their natural habitat. These magnificent creatures hold a special place in the hearts of South Africans and symbolize the untamed beauty of the African wilderness. The Mighty Big Five Game Among the most sought-after wildlife experiences in South Africa is encountering the Big Five game. These majestic animals, known for their size, strength, and undeniable presence, are the crown jewels of the country's national parks and game reserves. Each member of the Big Five exudes a unique charm and allure that is bound to leave you in awe. Image: Venture into the wild and keep your eyes peeled for a glimpse of these magnificent creatures. Whether it's the regal lion surveying its kingdom, the elusive leopard slinking through the trees, or the majestic elephant trumpeting in the distance, the Big Five game promises an unforgettable safari experience. Embark on South African Tours and Unleash the Explorer Within For those seeking adventure, culture, and natural beauty, South Africa offers a treasure trove of experiences waiting to be discovered. Whether you're exploring the historical landmarks of Cape Town, basking in the sun-kissed shores of Durban, or immersing yourself in the vibrant culture of Johannesburg, South African tours promise an unforgettable journey. So pack your bags, lace up your hiking boots, and get ready to embark on a voyage of discovery through the enchanting landscapes of South Africa. Let the stories of its past, the wonders of its wildlife, and the allure of the Big Five game capture your imagination and awaken the explorer within. Embark on a journey through the heart of South Africa and immerse yourself in its history, wildlife, and the thrilling world of the Big Five game. Prepare to be captivated by the land of legends, where every corner holds a new adventure and every moment is a chance to create memories that will last a lifetime. Enjoy South African Tours, where the beauty of nature meets the richness of culture, and every step you take brings you closer to the essence of this remarkable country. Indulge your senses, ignite your curiosity, and let the spirit of South Africa carry you away on a magical odyssey unlike any other. Let Southernstar-Africa be your guide as you explore the wonders of South Africa and make unforgettable memories along the way. Your adventure awaits – are you ready to discover the magic of this extraordinary land? South Africa - School Projects Southernstar-africa is a Homepage and Website based on South Africa,The Life and Culture and Wildlife and as Well of our Lives ,when we were still Liveing in South Africa .This Homepage has Information on South African History,on the Wildlife and the Big Five Game of South Africa. You Can find Pictures ,Links ,News,Recipes,Joke ,South African Ghost Stories and many other things that mite Intrest you,and also for School Projects,Some Pages are not for childrens View. To boost the post’s SEO, include a keyword in the title. You will find link banner on top of the webpages,at the bottom of the website,and on the left side of the page,you will also see alot of pages are link to other sites ,on the Net,and as well linked to partner and our own websites and Homepages... View All Other Pages (93) History | Southernstar-Africa South African history has been dominated by the interaction and conflict of several diverse ethnic groups. The aboriginal Khoisan people have lived in the region for millennia. Most of the population, however, trace their history to immigration since. Indigenous Africans in South Africa are descendants of immigrants from further north in Africa who first entered what are now the confines of the country roughly one thousand years ago. White South Africans are descendants of later European settlers, mainly from the Netherlands and Britain. The Coloureds are descended at least in part from all of these groups, as well as from slaves from the then East Indies, and there are many South Africans of Indian and Chinese origin, descendants of labourers who arrived in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. ​ The history South Africa is taken here more broadly to cover the history not only of the current South African state but of other polities in the region, including those of the Khoisan, the several Bantu kingdoms in the region before colonisation, the rule of the Dutch in the Cape and the subsequent rule of the British there and in Natal, and the so-called Boer republics, including the Orange Free State and the South African Republic. South Africa was under an official system of racial segregation and white minority rule from 1948 known as Apartheid, until its first egalitarian elections in 1994, when the ruling African National Congress came to dominate the politics of the country. ​ The Early Settlers The Early Settlers . Jan van Riebeeck and the 90 men who landed with him in 1652 at the Cape of Good Hope, under instructions by the Dutch East India Company to build a fort and develop a vegetable garden for the benefit of ships on the Eastern trade route. The Great Trek The Great Trek was a movement of Dutch-speaking colonists up into the interior of southern Africa in search of land where they could establish their own homeland, independent of British rule. The determination and courage of these pioneers has become the single most important element in the folk memory of Afrikaner Nationalism. On 16 December 1838 the Battle of Blood River On 16 December 1838 the Battle of Blood River took place near the Ncome River in KwaZulu Natal. The battle was between the Zulu's and the Voortrekkers.The battle began at dawn and was over by midday. More than 3000 Zulu casualties were counted around the laager. Only, 3 Voortrekkers (including Voortrekker leader Pretorius) were wounded, none were killed. The Ncome River became red with the blood of the slain. Hence the river became known as "Blood River". The Anglo-Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom.Following the imperialist scheme by which Lord Carnarvon had successfully brought about federation in Canada, it was thought that a similar plan might succeed with the various African kingdoms, tribal areas and Boer republics in South Africa. In 1874, Sir Henry Bartle Frere was sent to South Africa as High Commissioner for the British Empire to bring the scheme into being. The First Boer War The First Boer War (Dutch: Eerste Boerenoorlog, Afrikaans: Eerste Vryheidsoorlog, literally First Freedom War) also known as the First Anglo-Boer War or the Transvaal War, was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881 The Second Boer War The Second Boer War (Dutch: Tweede Boerenoorlog, Afrikaans: Tweede Vryheidsoorlog or Tweede Boereoorlog) was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic) and the Orange Free State. The Voortrekker Monument The Voortrekker Monument is located just south of Pretoria in South Africa. This massive granite structure is prominently located on a hilltop, and was raised to commemorate the Voortrekkers who left the Cape Colony between 1835 and 1854.On 8 July 2011 the Voortrekker Monument, designed by the architect Gerard Moerdijk, was declared a National Heritage Site by the South African Heritage Nicolaas Pieter Johannes ("Niklaas" or "Siener") Janse van Rensburg (August 30, 1864 - March 11, 1926) was a Boer from the South African Republic - also known as the Transvaal Republic - and later a citizen of South Africa who was considered by some to be a prophet of the Boere. He was born on the farm Palmietfontein in the Potchefstroom district as son of Willem Jacobus Janse van Rensburg and Anna Catharina Janse van Rensburg. The Day of the Vow The Day of the Vow (Afrikaans: Geloftedag or Dingaansdag) is the name of a religious public holiday in South Africa until 1994, when it was renamed the Day of Reconciliation-The holiday is December 16. Commemorating a famous Boer victory over the Zulu, the anniversary and its commemoration are intimately connected with various streams of Afrikaner nationalism The Voortrekkers The Voortrekkers (Afrikaans and Dutch for pioneers, literally "those who trek ahead", "fore-trekkers") were emigrants during the 1830s and 1840s who left the Cape Colony (British at the time, but founded by the Dutch) moving into the interior of what is now South Africa. The Great Trek consisted of a number of mass movements under a number of different leaders including Louis Tregardt, Hendrik Potgieter, Sarel Cilliers, Pieter Uys, Gerrit Maritz, Piet Retief and Andries Pretorius. General Jacobus Herculaas de la Rey General Jacobus Herculaas de la Rey (22 October 1847 – 15 September 1914), known as Koos de la Rey, was a Boer general during the Second Boer War and is widely regarded as being one of the strongest military leaders during that conflict.He is generally regarded as the bravest of the Boer generals during the Second Boer War and as one of the leading figures of Boer independence. Wild Life In South Africa The Kruger National Park The Big Five The Wild Life Gallery South African Animal Rehabilitation Endangered Wild life in South Africa Stop Crime In South Africa Stop Farm Killing in South Africa Die Tuis Blad South African Boere Links Stay Alive in South Africa The South African Awb Leader History of South Africa THE FIRST SETTLERS The Great Trek The Day of The Vow The Battle of Blood River THE VOORTREKKERS Culture in South Africa The Flags of South Africa South African Foods South African Arts South African Guide The South African Nine Provinces History of South Africa THE FIRST SETTLERS The Great Trek The Day of The Vow The Battle of Blood River THE VOORTREKKERS BACK TO TOP Page Site Maps | Southernstar-Africa WELCOME Our Site Map Grow Your Vision Welcome to the Sitemaps ,their are a lot of Sites below were you can view on South Africa. If one of the sites intrest you ,just click on VIEW MORE Button , It will take you to one of our Main site.So Enjoy South Africa. ​ The Great Trek The Voortrekker Monument The Battle of Bloodriver The First Boere War White Genocide South Africa South African Culture South African Culture Part 2 South African Tribes Bank Notes and Coin South African Sport South African Poems and Jokes Ghost Story South Africa Gauteng Mpumalanga Nine Provinces of South Africa Wildlife South Africa The Big 5 Safari Tours Kruger National Park South African Animal Gallery Wildlife Projects History of South Africa About Southernstar-Africa Maps South African Foods Western Cape Northern Cape Free State KwaZulu Natal North West Limpopo Eastern Cape Radio SAM Broadcasting Studios The 11 languages of South Africa South African Maps South Africa Maps Part 2 Projects South Africa Southernstar-Africa School Projects Extra Sites and Links Grow With Partners Our Services South African Blog Our Radio Stations Jokes and Poems Easy Blog Hiking in South Africa Camping in South Africa Tourist Attraction South African Art Travel Tips South Africa South African Rugby 11 Languages Groups Forum Member Book a Room Partner Links Raiseing Southernstar Africa Gauteng The name Gauteng is derived from the Sotho-Tswana gauta, Gauteng Sotho pronunciation: [xɑ́.ú.ˈtʼè.ŋ̀] khow-oo-T'EH-ng; Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; Zulu : eGoli or iGoli [îːˈgóːlì] ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa . Situated on the Highveld , Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa . Although Gauteng accounts for only 1.5% of the country's land area, it is home to more than a quarter of its population (26%). Highly urbanised, the province contains the country's largest city, Johannesburg , which is also one of the largest cities in the world. Gauteng is the wealthiest province in South Africa and is considered the financial hub of not only South Africa but the entire African continent; VIEW MORE Mpumalanga "Eastern Transvaal" redirects here. For the rugby team formerly known as "Eastern Transvaal", see Falcons (rugby team) . For the team formerly called "South Eastern Transvaal" representing Mpumalanga, see Pumas (Currie Cup) . Mpumalanga (/əmˌpuːməˈlɑːŋɡə/ ) is a province of South Africa . The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages . Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique . It shares borders with the South African provinces of Limpopo to the north, Gauteng to the west, the Free State to the southwest, and KwaZulu-Natal to the south. The capital is Mbombela NINE PROVINCES SOUTH AFRICA VIEW MORE South Africa’s nine provinces are the Eastern Cape, the Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the Northern Cape, North West and the Western Cape. The nine provinces of South Africa South Africa has nine provinces, each with its own history, landscape, population, languages, economy, cities and government. South Africa’s nine provinces are the Eastern Cape, the Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the Northern Cape, North West and the Western Cape. Before 1994, South Africa had four provinces: the Transvaal and Orange Free State – previously Boer republics – and Natal and the Cape, once British colonies. VIEW MORE South African Endangered Wildlife Wild Life South Africa - Kruger National Park - Wildlife Animal History Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of 19,485 square kilometres 7,523 sq mi in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends 360 kilometres 220 mi from north to south and 65 kilometres 40 mi from east to west. Areas of the park were first protected by the government of the South African Republic in 1898, and it became South Africa's first national park in 1926. VIEW MORE Big Five Even though you know that Africa and South Africa are so much more than the Big Five, the familiar images soon begin playing in your mind: lions roaring; elephants trumpeting; buffalos lurking in long grass; rhinos standing stately under a thorn tree; leopards prowling in the gathering darkness. You’ve seen the Big Five in books and you’ve seen them on TV. But it’s time to come and see them for yourself. The real thing. In person. And there’s no better place for this than South Africa, which offers the most exciting, memorable and exhilarating experience of your life – coming face to face with the Big Five. Origin of the name How did these five animals – the lion, elephant, buffalo, rhinoceros and leopard – come to be called the Big Five? It was originally a hunting term used by the so-called ‘great white hunters’ in the hunting heyday of the 19th and early 20thcenturies, when professional hunters bagged as many trophies as possible in as short a time as possible. Considered a rite of passage for seasoned travellers, everybody from American presidents to European royalty and heads of state came to Africa to shoot a large, dangerous animal. The Big Five quickly became known as the most dangerous animals to hunt on foot, and the name stuck – although now ‘shooting’ is done through a camera lens. VIEW MORE Safari Tours Wildlife Animal History SPRINGBOK / SPRINGBUCK The springbok (Afrikaans and Dutch: spring = jump; bok = antelope or goat) (Antidorcas marsupialis) is a medium-sized brown and white gazelle that stands about 70 to 90 cm (28 to 35 in) high. Springbok males weigh between 33 and 50 kg (73 and 110 lb) and the females between 25 and 40 kg (55 and 88 lb). They can reach running speeds of up to 90 km/h (56 mph),to 96 km/h (60 mph) and can leap 4 m(13 feet) into the air and can long jump of up to 15 m (50 feet). Springbok inhabit the dry inland areas of south and southwestern Africa. Their range extends from the northwestern part of South Africa through the Kalahari desert into Namibia and Botswana. Springbok occur in numbers of up to 2,500,000 in South Africa;it is the most plentiful antelope. They used to be very common, forming some of the largest herds of mammals ever documented, but their numbers have diminished significantly since the 19th century due to hunting and fences from farms blocking their migratory routes. VIEW MORE Kruger National Park Where nearly 2 million hectares of unrivaled diversity of life forms fuses with historical and archaeological sights – this is real Africa. The world-renowned Kruger National Park offers a wildlife experience that ranks with the best in Africa. Truly the flagship of the South African National Parks, this enormous and magnificent park is one of the most popular public-entry game parks in the world. Few visitors leave South Africa without visiting the Kruger National Park or one of the private reserves along its borders but it is also frequented by locals in their own vehicles, as you can drive yourself around and stay overnight in one of the many public rest camps . There are also a few exclusive private lodges that have been granted concessions within the Kruger National Park. Kruger has 12 main rest camps, 5 bushveld camps, 2 bush lodges and 4 satellite camps. The world-renowned Kruger National Park offers a wildlife experience that ranks with the best in Africa. Established in 1898 to protect the wildlife of the South African Lowveld, this national park is unrivalled in the diversity of its life forms and a world leader in advanced environmental management techniques and policies. Kruger is home to an impressive number of species: 336 trees, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammals. VIEW MORE South African Animal Gallery Welcome to Delta Rain, we hope you will join us for an unforgettable African experience. We provide quality, exciting and affordable mobile and mokoro safaris in the Okavango delta, throughout Botswana and further through southern Africa. Delta Rain is based at our own camp 'Sitatunga' located close to Maun Botswana. WHAT IS MAMMALMAP? The aim of MammalMAP is to update the distribution records of all African mammal species. Through collaborations with professional scientists, conservation organisations, wildlife authorities and citizen scientists across Africa, we consolidate all reliable and identifiable evidence (camera trap records, photographs) of current mammal locations into an open-access digital database. The database software automatically generates online distribution maps of all recorded species which are instantly visible and searchable. VIEW MORE Wildlife Projects Wildlife Backgrounds and Glitters Riseingsouthernstar-africa Wallpaper This site is dedicated to providing free animal print wallpaper for royalty free use. Animal wallpapers come in all different patters, including Zebra, Leopard, Cheetah,Snakeskin,and Land Scapes almost any animal print you want you can find here to download for your computer desktop wallpaper for free.. Wallpapers are one of the best things you can use to customize your desktop well. In one way or the other, it somehow influences our mood as we look at it, it may inspire you to do better or just help you relax for a while. In any ways, these wallpapers can help in personalizing your desktop background... VIEW MORE History South Africa South African history has been dominated by the interaction and conflict of several diverse ethnic groups. The aboriginal Khoisan people have lived in the region for millennia. The history South Africa is taken here more broadly to cover the history not only of the current South African state but of other polities in the region, including those of the Khoisan, the several Bantu kingdoms in the region before colonisation, the rule of the Dutch in the Cape and the subsequent rule of the British there and in Natal, and the so-called Boer republics, including the Orange Free State and the South African Republic. South Africa was under an official system of racial segregation and white minority rule from 1948 known as Apartheid, until its first egalitarian elections in 1994, when the ruling African National Congress came to dominate the politics of the country. VIEW MORE The Great Trek The Great Trek (Afrikaans : Die Groot Trek was a northward migration of Dutch-speaking settlers who travelled by wagon trains from the Cape Colony into the interior of modern South Africa from 1836 onwards, seeking to live beyond the Cape's British colonial administration. The Great Trek resulted from the culmination of tensions between rural descendants of the Cape's original European settlers, known collectively as Boers , and the British Empire . VIEW MORE Trekboers making camp (1804) by Samuel Daniell . Before the arrival of Europeans, the Cape of Good Hope area was populated by Khoisan tribes The first Europeans settled in the Cape area under the auspices of the Dutch East India Company (also known by its Dutch initials VOC), which established a victualling station there in 1652 to provide its outward bound fleets with fresh provisions and a harbour of refuge during the long sea journey from Europe to Asia In a few short decades, the Cape had become home to a large population of "vrijlieden", also denoted as "vrijburgers" (free citizens), former Company employees who remained in Dutch territories overseas after completing their contracts. The Voortrekker Monument The Voortrekker Monument is located just south of Pretoria in South Africa . The granite structure is located on a hilltop, and was raised to commemorate the Voortrekkers who left the Cape Colony between 1835 and 1854. It was designed by the architect Gerard Moerdijk . On 8 July 2011, the Voortrekker Monument was declared a National Heritage Site by the South African Heritage Resource Agency . The idea to build a monument in honour of the Voortrekkers was first discussed on 16 December 1888, when President Paul Kruger of the South African Republic attended the Day of the Covenant celebrations at Danskraal in Natal . However, the movement to actually build such a monument only started on 4 April 1931 when the Sentrale Volksmonumentekomitee (SVK; Central People's Monuments Committee) was formed to bring this idea to fruition. Construction started on 13 July 1937 with a sod-turning ceremony performed by the chairman of the SVK, Advocate Ernest George Jansen , on what later became known as Monument Hill. On 16 December 1938 the cornerstone was laid by three descendants of some of the Voortrekker leaders: Mrs. J.C. Muller (granddaughter of Andries Pretorius ), Mrs. K.F. Ackerman (great-granddaughter of Hendrik Potgieter ) and Mrs. J.C. Preller (great-granddaughter of Piet Retief ). The monument was inaugurated on 16 December 1949 by Prime Minister D. F. Malan .[citation needed ] The total construction cost of the monument was about £ 360,000, most of which was contributed by the South African government. A large amphitheatre , which could seat approximately 20,000 people, was erected to the north-east of the monument in 1949. VIEW MORE Battle of Blood River The Battle of Blood River 16 December 1838) was fought on the bank of the Ncome River , in what is today KwaZulu-Natal , South Africa between 464 Voortrekkers ("Pioneers"), led by Andries Pretorius , and an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 Zulu . The trekkers—called Voortrekkers after 1880—had to defend themselves after the betrayal murder of chief Trekker leader Piet Retief and his entire entourage, and ten days later the Weenen/Bloukrans massacre where "not a soul was spared. Dingane had agreed that, if Retief could recover approximately 700 head of cattle stolen from the Zulus by the Tlokwa , he would let them have land upon which to establish farms. On 6 February 1838, two days after the signing of a negotiated land settlement deal between Retief and Dingane at UmGungundlovu , written by Jan Gerritze Bantjes (1817–1887) which included Trekker access to Port Natal , which the British also had interest in, Dingane invited Retief and his party into his royal residence for a beer-drinking farewell. VIEW MORE The First Boer War The First Boer War (Dutch: Eerste Boerenoorlog, Afrikaans: Eerste Vryheidsoorlog, literally First Freedom War) also known as the First Anglo-Boer War or the Transvaal War, was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881. The southern part of the African continent was dominated in the 19th century by a set of epic struggles to create within it a single unified state. British aggression into southern Africa was fuelled by three prime factors: first, the desire to control the trade routes to India that passed around the Cape; second, the discovery in 1868 of huge mineral deposits of diamonds around Kimberley on the joint borders of the South African Republic (called the Transvaal by the British), Orange Free State and the Cape Colony, and thereafter in 1886 in the Transvaal of a major gold find, all of which offered enormous wealth and power; and thirdly the race against other European colonial powers, as part of a general colonial expansion in Africa. VIEW MORE White Genocide South Africa The genocide of white South Africans is heating up.Last week, South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) finally told its members to stop singing the song "Kill the Boer" -- that is, murder white South Africans. (Boer is Afrikaans for "farmer," Vryheidsvlag - Afrikaner Peoples Front / Afrikaner Volksfront In South Africa there is a political movement or party called the "Afrikaner Volksfront" (Popular Front), which aims to set up an independent Boer state. They use a flag very similar to the Transvaal "Vierkleur", but the red stripe is replaced with an orange one. This flag is called "Vryheidsvlag" (freedom flag). The "Volksrepubliek Werkgroep" (People's Republic working group) made a proposal for a constitution of this imagined state. In article 19.16.3 it is written: VIEW MORE South African Culture South African Languages We're not called the rainbow nation for nothing. South Africa has 11 official languages, and scores of unofficial ones. English is the most commonly spoken language in official and commercial public life but only the fifth most spoken home language.The country's democratic Constitution, which came into effect on 4 February 1997, recognises 11 official languages, to which the state guarantees equal status. The South African National Seal with its symbols on the original South African Coat of Arms places the white South African nation alongside the other Great Israel Nations of the West and identifies them as THE ANCIENT TRIBE OF JUDAH. The Coat of Arms heraldry aligned with thesc scriptures gives Judah’s latter-day geographical location as South Africa. Since this latter-day discovery, the White South Africans can easily be identified as the Biblical tribe of Judah whose ultimate destination was skillfully guided by the Creator and their identity concealed for it only to be revealed long after their arrival on theAfrican continent. VIEW MORE South african Culture Part 2 Oranje-blanje-blou Oranje-blanje-blou (Afrikaans for Orange, white and blue) refers, of course, to the old South African flag used between 1928 and 1994. This song was popular especially among Afrikaners when this flag flew over South Africa. Die Vlaglied / The Song of the Flag Another flag song, this time abut the former South African flag called "Die Vlaglied" / "The Song of the Flag" which was composed by CJ Langenhoven, the composer of the former South African National Anthem "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" / "The Call of South Africa".Afrikaans music was primarily influenced by Dutch folk styles, along with French and German influences, in the early twentieth century. Zydeco-type string bands led by a concertina were popular, as were elements of American country music, especially Jim Reeves. Bushveld music based on the Zulu were reinterpreted by such singers as Marais and Miranda. Melodramatic and sentimental songs called trane trekkers (tear jerkers) were especially common. In 1979 the South African Music scene changed from the Tranetrekkers to more lively sounds and the introduction of new names in the market with the likes of Anton Goosen, David Kramer, Koos du Plessis, Fanie de Jager, and Laurika Rauch. Afrikaans music is currently one of the most popular and best selling industries on the South African music scene. VIEW MORE South Africa Tribes South Africa is known for its ethnic and cultural diversity. Therefore, there is no single culture of South Africa. The oldest art objects in the world were discovered in a South African cave. Dating from 75,000 years ago, these small drilled snail shells could have no other function than to have been strung on a string as a necklace. South Africa was one of the cradles of the human species. One of the defining characteristics of our species is the making of art (from Latin 'ars' meaning worked or formed from basic material). VIEW MORE Banknotes and Coin The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) released the upgraded Mandela banknotes and fourth decimal coin series on 3 May 2023. The upgraded banknotes and fourth decimal coin series have new designs and enhanced security features that utilise the latest technological advancements to protect the integrity of our currency and maintain public trust. The upgraded banknotes continue to pay homage to South Africa's first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela, with his portrait featured on the front of all five denominations while the Big 5 animals are depicted as a family. The fourth decimal coin series is based on the theme of deep ecology, which celebrates the interconnectedness of humans and other living organisms as an integral part of the environment. VIEW MORE South African Sport The most popular sports in South Africa are soccer, rugby and cricket in South Africa" Other sports with significant support are hockey,swimming, athletics, golf, boxing, tennis and netball. Sports in South Africa have a passionate following, although they remain largely divided along ethnic lines.Football (soccer) is the most popular sport in South Africa, particularly amongst blacks who constitute the majority of the population. The national football team is nicknamed Bafana Bafana (meaning the boys, the boys). South Africa hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the first one hosted in Africa.Cricket is the second most popular sport in South Africa, and is traditionally the sport of the Anglo-African and Indian South African communities, although it is now followed by members of all races. The national cricket team is nicknamed The Proteas. South African Foods The cuisine of South Africa is sometimes called "rainbow cuisine", as it has had a variety of multicultural sources and stages.The cuisine can be generalized as: Cookery practiced by indigenous people of Africa such as the Sotho and Nguni-speaking people. Cookery that emerged from several waves of colonialisation and immigration introduced during the colonial period by people of Dutch, German, French and Indonesian descent (since 1652) Afrikaner, British descent (since 1805 and 1820 Settlers) and their slaves or servants - this includes the cuisine of the so-called Cape Malay people, which has many characteristics of Indonesia and cooking styles from neighbouring colonial cultures such as Portuguese Mozambique. world clocks VIEW MORE VIEW MORE Western Cape - CAPE TOWN Western Cape, South Africa, is a dream destination for those seeking a balance between natural beauty and cultural richness. The province offers breathtaking landscapes ranging from rugged coastlines to towering mountains dotted with charming towns and villages. Visitors can stroll through the vibrant streets of Cape Town, indulge in wine tasting in the renowned Cape Winelands, or witness the stunning diversity of flora and fauna in the UNESCO-listed Table Mountain National Park. Other highlights include whale watching in Hermanus, hiking the scenic trails of the Cederberg Mountains, and experiencing the vibrant local music scene in the city of Stellenbosch. Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa . It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley . The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa . It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley . It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park , part of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and an international park shared with Botswana . It also includes the Augrabies Falls and the diamond mining regions in Kimberley and Alexander Bay . Free State The Free State is one of the nine provinces of South Africa and is centrally located. It represents 10.6% of the total land area of the country. The Free State is one of the nine provinces of South Africa and is centrally located. It represents 10.6% of the total land area of the country. It boasts wide horizons, blue skies, mountains and goldfields. The province covers an area of 129 464 km2 and is roughly the size of Nicaragua. In 2011, the province had a population of 2.7 million with four district municipalities and one metropolitan municipality. The Free State is situated on the flat, boundless plains in the centre of South Africa. It borders most of the other provinces, the exceptions being Limpopo and the Western Cape. To the east, it has an international boundary with Lesotho nestling in the hollow of its beanlike shape, and the escarpment separates it from the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu ) and Natal Province were merged. It is located in the southeast of the country, Rough and ready, smart and sophisticated, rural and rustic: there’s no doubt that KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) is eclectic. It’s a region where glassy malls touch shabby suburbs, and action-packed adventurers ooze adrenaline while laid-back beach bods drip with suntan lotion. Mountainscapes contrast with flat, dry savannahs, while the towns’ central streets, teeming with African life, markets and noise, are in stark contrast to the sedate tribal settlements in rural areas. Here, too, is traditional Zululand, whose people are fiercely proud of their culture. North West North West, a province in South Africa, is a hidden gem known for its breathtaking landscapes. North West, a province in South Africa, is a hidden gem known for its breathtaking landscapes. From the rugged mountains of the Magaliesberg to the rolling hills of the Bushveld, visitors will love its natural beauty. Its area is also home to a rich cultural heritage, with several traditional villages offering visitors the chance to learn about the customs and traditions of the local communities. North West is also known for its wildlife. Several game reserves and parks offer unforgettable game drives and safaris, where visitors can spot the Big Five and other exotic animals. With its stunning landscapes, rich cultural heritage, and abundant wildlife, North West is an ideal destination for travelers seeking an authentic South African experience. Limpopo Limpopo is a land of spectacular natural beauty in South Africa, boasting stunning landscapes of rugged mountains, rolling savannahs, and wild bushveld. It is home to several game reserves and national parks, including Kruger National Park, one of the largest and most diverse game reserves in Africa. The region is also rich in culture and history, with many traditional villages and archaeological sites to explore. Visitors can experience the vibrant local culture, taste delicious local cuisine, and enjoy a wide range of adventure activities, such as hiking, wildlife safaris, and hot air balloon rides. The 11 languages of South Africa South Africa’s constitution recognises 11 official languages: Sepedi (also known as Sesotho sa Leboa ), Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu. South Africa’s constitution recognises 11 official languages: Sepedi (also known as Sesotho sa Leboa ), Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu. For centuries South Africa’s official languages were European – Dutch, English, Afrikaans. African languages, spoken by at least 80% of the people, were ignored. In 1996 South Africa’s new constitution gave official protection to all of the country’s major languages.South Africa has about 34 historically established languages. Thirty are living languages, and four extinct Khoesan languages. SEND Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape of South Africa is a unique and captivating destination, offering a range of experiences for visitors to the region. Nature lovers will be amazed by the beauty of the Wild Coast, with its rugged coastline, unspoiled beaches, and breathtaking views. Game reserves such as the Addo Elephant National Park offer visitors the opportunity to see some of the region's most iconic wildlife, including elephants, lions, and rhinos. At the same time, birdwatchers will enjoy exploring the region's many wetlands and estuaries. Aside from this, guests can explore the region's rich cultural heritage, with ancient rock art sites such as the Cederberg Wilderness Area and the Bhisho Massacre Monument, which commemorate the historic struggle against apartheid. With its stunning natural landscapes, rich cultural heritage, and diverse range of activities, the Eastern Cape is a destination that offers something for everyone. Radio SAM Broadcasting Studios We built ‘Radio SAM Broadcaster Germany’ for YOU…….. For you to NEVER miss that amazing event. We strive to, at all times, try to take the hassle out of finding out where that favourite artist is performing, have a look at some other artists also performing, and at what venue it is going to be held, at what time, and maybe it will be the end of life as you know it. We love radio! Radio SAM Broadcaster Germany makes life a little easier for everyone who feels the same way. We offer you the opportunity to listen to internet radio from all over the world in a particularly uncomplicated manner and free of charge. With the push of a button, you can also record it very easily thanks to Radio SAM Broadcaster Germany. Don't you ever want to miss your favorite internet radio radio again? Our tools make it possible! You can put together your own program in the Radio SAM Broadcaster Germany player, in the app and directly on our website. This is then conveniently recorded and saved for you. If you just want to listen to your favorite online radio stations, VIEW MORE South African Maps Here are some places you can visit in South Africa 1 2 : Cape Town Kruger National Park Stellenbosch Knysna Namaqualand Johannesburg Hermanus Blyde River Canyon Each of South Africa’s regions truly has its own distinct personality, offering a captivating blend of cosmopolitan cities, enthralling animals, rich history and remote wilderness. From the bustling streets of Cape Town and the wild-game viewing in Kruger National Park to the charming valleys of the Winelands, every place here enchants. VIEW MORE South African Maps Part 2 PRETORIA Pretoria is a city in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, South Africa Maps PRETORIA Pretoria is a city in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive ,administrative and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is divided into three sections: pretoria west, east and north. Pretoria is contained within the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality as one of several constituent former administrations ,among which also Centurion and Soshanguve. Pretoria itself is sometimes referred to as "Tshwane" due to a long-running and controversial proposed change of name, which has yet to be decided, as of 2012. VIEW MORE About Southernstar-Africa Hi, thanks for dropping by! We are a school project organization that aims to educate children about the history of South Africa We are a school project organization that aims to educate children about the history of South Africa. Our focus is on the people who shaped the country's past and present. Our team consists of passionate educators who are dedicated to providing the best learning experience for the children. We provide various services such as interactive workshops, field trips, and educational materials. Join us in exploring the rich history of Southernstar-Africa VIEW MORE South African Poems and Jokes The poetry of South Africa covers a broad range of themes, forms and styles.This article discusses the context that contemporary poets have come from and identifies the major poets of South Africa, their works and influence. The South African literary landscape from the 19th century to the present day has been fundamentally shaped by the social and political evolution of the country, particularly the trajectory from a colonial trading station to an apartheid state and finally toward a democracy. Primary forces of population growth and economic change which have propelled urban development have also impacted on what themes, forms and styles of literature and poetry in particular have emerged from the country over time. South Africa has had a rich history of literary output. Fiction and poetry specifically has been written in all of South Africa's eleven official languages While it has been recorded that literature by black South Africans only emerged in the 20th century, this is only a reflection of published works at the time, not of the reality that black South Africans were writing and reciting in oral forms. The first generation of mission-educated African writers sought to restore dignity to Africans by invoking and reconstructing a heroic African past. SEND Grow With Partners Use this website to find other interesting web sites related to South Africa and the subject matter of this Homepage. Additional useful links to web sites of interest are listed in sections on pages where they are relevant. Should you choose one of these links you will be leaving the Southernstar - Africa Homepage. Southernstar-Africa is not responsible for the content or reliability of web sites linked from this site, and does not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them. We cannot guarantee that these links will work all of the time, and we have no control over the availability of linked pages. You are Welcome to copy pictures of the Wild Life Animals.Please do not Copy the codes,of this website of my Gest book ,it is copyright 2024,Designed by A Dezius,what the Picture Grafics and colour layouts concirns. VIEW MORE Projects South Africa Stay updated with our latest projects and historical insights. Project South Africa is assigning resources to tasks we add, and what we do about South Africa, with Information about South Africa. VIEW MORE Ghosts South Africa Cape Town – The Castle of Good Hope turns 350 this year – and to mark the occasion, the Independent Media group will take readers on an intriguing journey of discovery, with South Africa’s oldest existing building as its focal point. Cape Town – The Castle of Good Hope turns 350 this year – and to mark the occasion, the Independent Media group will take readers on an intriguing journey of discovery, with South Africa’s oldest existing building as its focal point. Over the years, the Castle has been many things to different people, a place of pleasure and pain. To the first white settlers it was a refreshment station for ships from their home country. To the indigenous people it eventually became a symbol of dispossession – of land, livestock and, ultimately, dignity. But back to the Castle… Perhaps appropriately, it had its origins in something that was commonplace along the southernmost tip of Africa: a violent storm… followed by a shipwreck. On March 25, 1647, a Dutch Indiaman, De Nieuwe Haerlem, on its way to Holland from the East Indies, ran aground in the vicinity of present-day Milnerton – and although there were no casualties, its sinking was destined to change the course of history. A junior merchant named Leendert Janszen was instructed to stay behind with about 60 crew to look after the cargo while fellow crew members boarded other ships in the fleet and continued their journey to Holland. While waiting to be picked up, Janszen and other members of the party grew vegetables, caught fish and bartered fresh meat from indigenous inhabitants. It proved to be a trial run for something more permanent. VIEW MORE Our Services KRUGER NATIONAL PARK Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of 19,485 square kilometres 7,523 sq mi in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends 360 kilometres 220 mi from north to south and 65 kilometres 40 mi from east to west.The big five are among the most dangerous, yet most popular species for big game hunters to hunt.Safari Club International, an organization dedicated to trophy hunters, offers a trophy for hunting all five species, called the "African Big Five Grand Slam," along with 14 other Grand Slams for other species. VIEW MORE 03 First-Rate Materials We have strict standards when it comes to what we produce and never compromise on quality. This is especially true when it comes to the first-rate materials we use. Our customers deserve the highest level of products on the market, and we work tirelessly to maintain those standards. BACK TO TOP South African Tribes | Southernstar-Africa South Africa Tribes South Africa Tribes South Africa is known for its ethnic and cultural diversity. Therefore, there is no single culture of South Africa. Art of South Africa Eland, rock painting, Drakensberg, South Africa The oldest art objects in the world were discovered in a South African cave. Dating from 75,000 years ago, these small drilled snail shells could have no other function than to have been strung on a string as a necklace. South Africa was one of the cradles of the human species. One of the defining characteristics of our species is the making of art (from Latin 'ars' meaning worked or formed from basic material). The scattered tribes of Khoisan peoples moving into South Africa from around 10000 BC had their own fluent art styles seen today in a multitude of cave paintings. They were superseded by Bantu/Nguni peoples with their own vocabularies of art forms. In the 20th century, traditional tribal forms of art were scattered and re-melded by the divisive policies of apartheid.New forms of art evolved in the mines and townships: a dynamic art using everything from plastic strips to bicycle spokes. The Dutch-influenced folk art of the Afrikaner Trekboers and the urban white artists earnestly following changing European traditions from the 1850s onwards also contributed to this eclectic mix, which continues to evolve today. Art Of South Africa Architecture The architecture of South Africa mirrors the vast ethnic and cultural diversity of the country and its historical colonial period. In addition, influences from other, distant, countries, have contributed to the variety of the South African architectural landscape. Herbert Baker, among the country's most influential architects, designed the Union Buildings in Pretoria. Other buildings of note include the Rhodes memorial and St George's Cathedral in Cape Town, and St John's College in Johannesburg. Cape Dutch architecture was prominent in the early days (17th century) of the Cape Colony, and the name derives from the fact that the initial settlers of the Cape were primarily Dutch. The style has roots in mediaeval Holland, Germany, France and Indonesia. Houses in this style have a distinctive and recognisable design, with a prominent feature being the grand, ornately rounded gables, reminiscent of features in townhouses of Amsterdam built in the Dutch style. The rural landscape of South Africa is populated with traditional African architecture . South Africans have been referred to as the 'rainbow nation', a title which epitomises the country's cultural diversity. The population of South Africa is one of the most complex and diverse in the world. Of the 45 million South Africans, nearly 31 million are Black, 5 million White, 3 million Coloured and one million Indian. The population density is 32.9 people per km². The Black population is divided into four major ethnic groups, namely Nguni, Sotho, Shangaan-Tsonga and Venda. There are numerous subgroups of which the Zulu and Xhosa (two subgroups of the Nguni) are the largest. The majority of the White population is of Afrikaans descent (60%), with many of the remaining 40% being of British descent. Most of the Coloured population live in the Northern and Western Cape provinces, whilst most of the Indian population lives in KwaZulu Natal. The Afrikaner population is concentrated in the Gauteng and Free State provinces and the English population in the Western and Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal. There are eleven official languages in South Africa, namely English, Afrikaans, Ndebele, Sepedi, Xhosa, Venda, Tswana, Southern Sotho, Zulu, Swazi and Tsonga. View more information about each (see below), including the origins of the language and where it is spoken in South Africa. Also see South Africanisms and useful Xhosa phrases and Zulu phrases. ​ South Africa's Official Languages ​ Xhosa (isiXhosa) Language Xhosa Ladies There are 11 official languages in South Africa and Xhosa is known to be listed as one of those languages. Approximately 18 percent of South Africa’s population speaks the language, and when doing the maths, that makes it around 7.9 million people. Xhosa is marked by a number of tongue-clicking sounds. Those that speak the language are usually involved in an ethnic group known as the amaXhosa, and to them this language is known as isiXhosa. An interesting fact is that the word “Xhosa” is derived from the Khoisan language, which means “angry men”. A majority of the languages in South Africa which involve tongue-clicking, originate from the Khoisan. Xhosa is known to fall under Bantu language, and is also a representative of South-western’s Nguni family. With this fact, South Africa’s known to be Xhosa’s native land, and especially the Eastern Cape - where the language is spoken everywhere. The Zulu people of South Africa have their own name for the Xhosa people, and this is KwaXhosa. When translated KwaXhosa simply means “land of Xhosa”. Visiting the Western Cape and Gauteng one will also see many Xhosa people and hear them speak. Because Xhosa and Zulu are both classed as a Bantu language, if these two classes were to communicate with one another, often they will understand each other. Xhosa Woman Xhosa has been grouped into quite a few dialects, and although the dialects are still being debated, the accepted dialect groups are: Xhosa (original), Gcaleka, Bhaca, Ngqika, Thembu, Mpondomise, Mfengu, Mpondo and Bomvana. Xhosa is unusual, at the same time it is an attractive sounding language. To many, the language is difficult to learn mainly because the consonants are uncommon and also densely populated. The sounds are aggressive, which consists of English sounds, 15 clicks, ejectives and also an implosive. What learners battle with are the 15 clicks, and these are divided into 3 groups: the dental clicks - where the tongue presses against the person’s teeth. The end result should be “tut-tut”, alveolar clicks – where the tongue presses against the palate. The end result should be a sound resembling cork popping out of a bottle, and then the lateral click - where the tongue presses against the side of the mouth. The end result should be the sound one makes when calling a horse. Learning to speak the language can be very challenging, but also very rewarding. The next time you decide to travel to South Africa’s Eastern Cape don’t forget to stop an amaXhosa and ask him / her to instruct you on a couple of phrases. There is no doubt that they will be eager to teach you a thing or two and share their historical language with you. Zulu (IsiZulu) Language Zulu Woman IsiZulu or Zulu is one of the official languages of South Africa. 10 million people speak the language and most of these people live in South Africa. 24% of South Africans, Zulu is considered to be their home language and 50% of the South Africa’s inhabitants understand the language. Zulu falls under the Nguni group and is one of the Bantu languages. Xhosa and Zulu are the only two languages mutually understandable. The Zulu nation came into existence around the 14th century. Although there are many Bantu migrants, back then Zulu language adopted many of the sounds that make up the language from the San and from the Khoi. The San and the Khoi were the first residents in South Africa. Evidence of this is the Zulu’s clicking consonants used in their language. Other indigenous languages before were all oral languages until missionaries from Europe arrived. This was the time Zulu became written - when missionaries that had arrived jotted down the interesting facts concerning this language using a Latin alphabet. The year was 1883, and this was the year the first book containing the Zulu language was produced - A Bible. Zulu Woman John Dube resided in Natal at the time established what was called Ohlange Institute in the year 1901. The Ohlange Institute was known to be South Africa’s very first educational foundation. John Dube was considered a great pioneer in the Zulu language and wrote the first Zulu paperback titled “Insila Kashaka”. Other names in Zulu literature had included Oswald-Mbuyiseni Mtshali, Reginald Dhlomo and Benedict-Wallet Vilakazi. The mentioned novelists specialised in creating historically-based novels telling the life stories of known Zulu leaders - Dingane and Shaka (also known as Shaka Zulu). Zulu anthologies came into production in the year 1935 and in the later years with writers JC Dlamini, BWV Vilkazi and OEH Nxumalo. Written Zulu today is under Kwazulu Natal Zulu-Language Jurisdiction Board. Zulu is now a language that has become wide spread in Africa. It is especially spoken in KwaZulu Natal, which is also known as “Land of-the Zulu”. The language can also be heard in Mpumalanga and Gauteng. Other countries in Africa where this language is spoken are Swaziland and Lesotho, which are also South Africa’s very close neighbours. South African English has adopted many Zulu words into its vocabulary. Some of the words include ubantu (humanity), donga (ditch), indaba (conference) and muti (medicine). Two Zulu animal names are used in Standard English, and these are the Impala (proper name) and the Mamba (poisonous snake). If you are considering learning a South African language, Zulu would probably be suggested by many. The main reason is that the language is not difficult to understand and it is widely used and understood. Afrikaans Language Afrikaans Language Monument outside Paarl The Afrikaans language is one of South Africa’s official languages and a majority of South Africa’s population uses this as their first or second language. Afrikaans is a born language and attached is a fascinating history. The language is widely spoken in Namibia and spoken partly in Zimbabwe, Botswana and other countries. According to many English South Africans, Afrikaans is said to be a language that is dying, but this language has made its mark in society and the culture backing this language is rich. The word Afrikaans in Dutch means “African”. Afrikaans was created in Cape Town, which is home to various nationalities. The nationalities that make up the population of South Africa are Indonesians, Madagascans, Khoikoi, Dutch Settlers and West Africans. Afrikaans has become a new form of Dutch. Afrikaans’s original dialect is referred to many as Kitchen Dutch, Cape Dutch or African Dutch. In the late 19th century Afrikaans was recognised as the separate language when Dutch was considered. 1961 was the year when Afrikaans became one of the 11 official languages with English. This gave the Dutch language the boot straightaway, although many people still speak the language around the country. South African School Children What make Dutch and Afrikaans different are grammar and the vocabulary. Afrikaans is considered to be a language containing “regular” grammar. This is ascribed to certain influences by Dutch-creole languages. A huge sum of vocabulary shows evidence of South-Hollandic Dutch origins. The Afrikaans language does contain words from English, Khoi, Xhosa, Asian Malay, Malagasy, San, Portuguese and French, although many of these words do sound extremely and noticeably different. The dialect in the North-eastern was a form of Afrikaans, and from this written-standard was developed. Afrikaans is spoken as a first language by 60 percent of white people and about 90 percent of coloured people. Many South African races use Afrikaans as their second language, and many black South Africans use it as their third language. Afrikaans has been labelled by many critics as a very "ugly language", but apart from this the language has gained popularity in many countries in the world. Universities in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Russia and Poland are also teaching Afrikaans. In the year 1975 the Afrikaans-Language Monument (photo above) was built near the town of Paarl in the Western Cape. The structure was extremely impressive and was created to remember the statement of Afrikaans for being a language on its own. The Afrikaans language had definitely made its mark, and if you are unable to learn a phrase or two when visiting this country ... "môre is nog 'n dag" (tomorrow is another day) or plainly: the opportunity will always be there. Venda ​ Venda (Luvenda / Tshivenda) Language This language known as Luvenda, Venda or Tshivenda, originated from the Bantu language and is also related to Niger and Congo languages. Those that speak Venda are part of South Africa’s population, and it is one of the 11 official South African languages. Around 666 000 of Tshivenda speakers live in the Northern parts of South Africa’s Limpopo Province. Those that speak Tshivenda have a Royal Family and there are also traditions that relate to this. If the son wants to become a Chief or a King, the son’s mother must be “legible”, and only this way will the son sit on the throne of his dearly departed Chief or King. Mothers are required to be part of the Royal Family and this will promise that children have royal blood. The Tshivenda culture allows a sister and a brother from different mothers to marry. This is another promise that only royal blood will take the throne. The people of Tshivenda show women the greatest respect, and because of this women are allowed to become Queens and Chiefs of their tribes. Followers show the Tshivenda women the same great respect, and in turn they show respect to their fellow males. In the Tshivenda tradition, a Khoro takes place every Sunday. This is a Tshivenda Tribal Council. Here Chiefs and senior citizens get together and have discussions concerning the community. The Tshivenda people are very proud of all their traditions and introduce their standards and morals every new generation. Music is one of the most important activities in the life of a Tshivenda person. They have music for every event in their lives. There is music for worship, sadness, joy, work and sadness. Drum beats accompany most of their music, and exceptions are made for songs, and the songs are usually murmured. Drums are extremely important for the Tshivenda people, making it symbolic. The Tshivendas dance to the beat of their drums, and this is the peoples’ different changes through life. Cooking is done in a traditional way, and usually by the Tshivenda speaker. The traditional meal is Tshidzimba, which is a mixture of groundnuts, beans and mielie grains. Summer is the time the Tshivenda people plant seeds, and this is also known to be the best time when they work. There is always something for the hard-working people to look forward to after working all day in the fields and that is music, a few drinks and dancing. Ndebele Language Ndebele Dolls Many South African African people can speak Ndebele and it is in fact a beautiful language if you know how to speak and understand it well. It is a Bantu language that is spoken by Ndebele South Africans (the Ndebele people are also sometimes referred to as amaNdebele). People of the Ndebele culture and language can be found throughout Gauteng. Their language may be separated into the chief dialects; these are Southern Ndebele and Northern Ndebele. The last census was taken around the year of 1996 and it was then reported that there are approximately 500,000 individuals in the country of South Africa that are able to speak the Ndebele language and who belong to this cultural group. These people often get confused with the Ndebele speaking people in Zimbabwe or Botswana, but their language has more in common with Zulu and not Ndebele. Most of the people that speak Southern Ndebele are situated in and around the Limpopo province. There are also a few Ndebele residents staying in Polokwane and Mokopane, but there will not be many of them, maybe just a handful. This language is generally only spoken amongst people of the Ndebele culture and it is not taught at any schools, therefore the language is falling away and can only be carried through generations. Many of the young children of the Southern Ndebele speak Northern Sotho because it is said to be a lot more adaptable and more useful than any other. Lovely Ndebele Woman in traditional Dress Mpumalanga and Gauteng is where most of the Northern Ndebele people can be found. The language of Ndebele was not considered to be an important language and neither was it considered to be necessary, so the children were taught to speak Zulu and Northern Ndebele instead, as it was more common than Ndebele. Besides all this, the Ndebele families were still different from the Zulu families and this brought on their separation by the Apartheid government. Ndebele got its very own radio station, which was simply named “Radio Ndebele” and then later renamed “Ikhwekhwezi” which means “star” if translated into English. Many people will say that the radio station has played a big role in trying to keep the Ndebele language alive and to keep the pronunciation and vocabulary the same; however there have been a few Afrikaans and Northern Sotho words added to the language. Sepedi (Northern Sotho) Language Sepedi Woman Sepedi is also sometimes referred to as Sesotho sa Laboa or Northern Sotho. The language of Sepedi is spoken by approximately 4,208,980 individuals and it is one of the eleven official languages in South Africa. The Sepedi language is usually spoken in Mpumalanga, Gauteng and the Limpopo province, but a little bit of it is also spoken in Botswana. This language is a part of the Bantu Group which belongs to the Niger-Congo and it is very closely connected with the Setswana and Sesotho languages. As many religions and cultures do, Sepedi has their own traditions. Many people take a liking to this culture and language because of their wedding ceremonies. The bride and grooms closest family members will get together to discuss the wedding and most importantly, the lebola. What happens here is the bride’s family, normally her mother and father, request certain items from the groom’s parents in exchange for their daughter. The items that are normally asked for are things like money and livestock, but they can literally ask for anything. If they would like a bottle of brandy, they can ask for that, or a television, whatever they ask for, the groom’s parents cannot refuse otherwise their son may not marry whom he wishes to marry. A Sepedi wedding is not held at a church, but rather at the bride’s or groom’s home. When the bride is dressed and ready for her wedding, she has to go to the river and collect enough water and wood for the ceremony. Her dress will be made from a cow’s hide and is called a Dintepa; the groom can wear a suit for the big day. When the bride has collected enough water and wood and completed her other tasks, she is now ready to walk to her husband-to-be, but while she is walking her grandmother sweeps the floor in front of her to “clear her way”. When the couple is married and everyone has been to congratulate them and the ceremony is done, a cow or sheep will be slaughtered and the meat is equally divided to both the families. Then the fun starts; the music played at Sepedi weddings is normally that of kiba music, which only the men are allowed to dance to. Setswana Setswana is commonly known as Tswana, and is actually Botswana’s national language. However, the majority of Tswana or Setswana speakers are found in South Africa. It is the Northern Cape that is the source of the Setswana and Afrikaans speakers. When travelling to ... Setswana (Tswana) Language Batwane Woman in Traditional Dress Setswana is commonly known as Tswana, and it is Botswana’s national language. The majority of Tswana or Setswana speakers are however found in South Africa. It is the Northern Cape that is the source of the Setswana and Afrikaans speakers. When travelling to Zimbabwe and Namibia one is also able to bump into many Setswana speakers. Being a Bantu language means Setswana is related to other Sotho languages. These are Southern Sotho and Sesotho-sa Leboa (Northern Sotho). Not long ago, Tswana was known by many as Beetjuans, Coana, Chuana (relation of Bechuanaland), Sechuana, Cuana. There seem to be a few of its own obstacles in the Tswana language when talking it, and this is because all of the Sotho languages have close relations with each other, moreover, there are different dialects found in certain parts of the African continent. If you come across a Setswana speaker, be sure to say “Dumela!” This simply means “Hello!”. As with many other languages, Setswana has it own slang. Separate words: “O-a-re-eng?” is pronounced wah-reng simply means “How is it going?” an easier and much shorter version would be, “Go jwang”, and this simply means “How’s it?” Wealth is measured among the Setswana speakers by the number of cattle they have in their possession. The more cattle a Setswana speaker owns, that person is moving closer to making “Setswana Forbes”. The Setswana Forbes is a list containing all the names of the wealthy. The division between a rich Setswana and a poor Setswana is distinct, and division continues to grow. The world’s western ways have penetrated this culture, and this has led to the elimination of the Setswana speaker’s traditional clothing. However, many other cultures have survived this abolishment and they get to keep their traditional ways. Traditional healers, or sangomas, and music play a very important part in this culture. The music involved in Setswana consists on only string instruments and human voices. The Setswana people don’t really use drums in their music, and this comes to no surprise, because only one musical group ever came into existence. The Kgwanyape Band released their album “Mepatho-ya Malobe” in 1993. Many people question the credibility and the integrity of the sangomas of the Setswana people. There are arguments that these sangomas have no qualifications. Then again, there should not only be concerns about the Setswana sangomas, but sangomas in other cultures as well. If you are considering seeing a sangoma when travelling, keep in mind that travel and time for certain herbs are added to the fee. Most sangomas call on their ancestors when consulting you, so all you have to do is hope that the ancestors are smiling on that day. Southern Sesotho This Bantu language originates from the Bantu-Nguni era and is also known as Suto, Souto, Sisutho as well as Suthu. The dialects originates from Suto, Pedi as well as Tswana which are intelligible but at the same time is also considered to be separate languages ... Southern Sesotho Language Southern Sesotho This Bantu language originates from the Bantu-Nguni era and is also known as Suto, Souto, Sisutho as well as Suthu. The dialects originates from Suto, Pedi as well as Tswana but at the same time is considered to be a separate language. Being one of the eleven official languages of South Africa, Southern Sesotho is spoken by more than five million of the South African population as well as peoples in Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia. In Lesotho, Southern Sesotho is one of the two official languages and is spoken by more than 85% of inhabitants. According to scholars, the original written form of this language was based on the dialect from Tlokwa and today it is mostly based on the dialects from the Kwena and Fokeng. To describe the language is quite a task, as it is regarded to have nine vowels which are collapsed in five letters each. This, when compared to other languages of this nature is quite a large amount. The language consists of 35 consonants, which include two semi-vowels, for non-homogenous doubled eloquent and a tri-click. Southern Sesotho Southern Sesotho would generally be classified in the group of the Niger-Congo family. While this complicated language will be a foreign tongue to you, when you do master and understand it when it is spoken, like all foreign languages, you will begin to appreciate the beauty thereof. The words have a flow to the sound when it is spoken by a Sesotho speaking person and one will easily pay attention to the intricacies in tone as well as the nasalization. In this language, the words for father - ntate and mother - mme are also used to address elders and shows respect for them. Children are encouraged to have good manners, be polite and always have to be willing to know their values. The overall attitude that this culture has toward the growing youth is “Lefura la ngwana ke ho rungwa”, translated means, Children benefit from serving their elders. Marriages are pre-arranged between families; which can lead to a girl being married as young as twelve. This has however changed with time and they are now free to pick their partners. Swati (Sewati / Swazi / siSwati) Language Swazi Dancers Swati might not sound familiar to you, but rather Sewati, Swazi or siSwati as these are all the same language, just in different names. Swati is a part of the Nguni Group and it is one of the many Bantu languages. It is mainly spoken by people in South Africa and Swaziland. Swati one of the official languages of South Africa and many schools teach this language to the students only if they would like to learn it, while at other schools it is a compulsory subject to take. It is a similar language to Ndebele, Xhosa and Zulu and they are often confused by people that are unaware of the differences these four languages have. Swati is easiest when divided into its four dialects, which are Hhoho, Nandzini, Shiselweni and Shiselweni again. These are the four divisions that correspond with the four appropriate districts of the country. There are mainly two different strains of the siSwati language. The normal kind of siSwati that is spoken is done so mainly in the South and North West, the other kind of Swati is mainly spoken far into the Deep South, this type is highly influenced by Zulu, so it is not really considered to be proper siSwati. Often considered to be the second dialect that is spoken is Swati. During the year of 1750, the Swazi successors in South Africa decided to relocate, going north in the direction of KwaZulu Natal and then from there they went north-west in the direction of the Ususthu River. They chose to move to this river because it provided them with shelter and protection from the warriors and the King Shaka Zulu. They found it so enjoyable that there are still some Swazi’s staying there today. Swazi Elder The Swazi people are known to have many traditional events, but they are most commonly known for their Incwala and Umhlanga. At these events you will see the entire culture of Swazi’s in their colourful outfits with red feathers, carrying shields and wearing multicoloured necklaces. Another one of their great traditional festivals is the eight day reed dance (see photo above). This is a ceremony held normally in the last days of August till the first few days of September for all the single women. All the unmarried women will do their dance for the Queen Mother and hand over the reeds that had specially cut for the occasion. The reason for this ceremony is to “protect the women’s chastity” and to praise the Queen Mother. On the last day of the celebration, the King will have his cattle slaughtered and the women may then help themselves to the meat and take it back home with them to enjoy further. Tsonga Language Shangaan Woman The language of Tsonga is mainly spoken throughout southern Africa by the Shangaan - Tsonga culture. The main area where Tsonga is spoken is in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa. Tsonga is a part of Bantu branch when it comes to the Niger-Congo languages. The speakers of this language are often referred to as Shangaans, but the Tsongas say this is incorrect as that term should only be used for the Tsonga people who are living in Mozambique. Even though the Tsonga speakers are spread throughout Southern Africa, the majority of them live in the Limpopo province in South Africa. There are approximately 1,646,000 Tsonga speakers in Limpopo. Tsonga is one of South Africa’s eleven official languages as it is spoken by so many of its residents. The language of Tsonga does not use the English alphabet, even though they are mainly based in South Africa, in actual fact they make use of the Latin alphabet. It is not an easy language to learn if you were not Tsonga born; they use specific sounds to spell, using a combination of different letters. The letters they use are not a part of the European language, but are just used to determine the language. Shangaan Woman Counting from one to ten is as follows; Nwe (1), Mbirhi (2), Nharhu (3), Mune (4), Ntlhanu (5), Ntsevu (6), Nkombo (7), Nhungu (8), Nkaye (9), Khume (10) A few examples of what sentences look like when they are put together in Tsonga are like this; “Va ndzi tiva” - They know me “Ndza ku rhandza” - I love you “Ha ku tiva” - We know you “Wa ndzi rhandza” - You love me Numerous dialects of the language Tsonga are used as far south as Kwazulu Natal and as far north as Zimbabwe, or the Save River in Zimbabwe. Most of the dialects are equally comprehensible, they do indeed have noticeable differences, which are geographical and based on the pressure from the colonial era. There are three popular distinct dialects, these are Xironga, which is mainly spoken in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, as well as the areas around it; Chihlengwe / Xitshwa, verbal in Mozambique and Zimbabwe, and then xiTsonga, which is the language spoken in the country of South Africa. All of these dialects have different pronunciation, for example the Tsonga that’s spoken in South Africa, when they say “xi” it is pronounced as “shi”. BACK TO TOP View All Forum Posts (7) BIG 5 SOUTH AFRICA In General Discussion · 30 March 2024 1 1 3 BIG 5 SOUTH AFRICA In General Discussion 22 April 2024 1 0 Wild Life in South Africa In General Discussion · 23 August 2024 Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of 19,485 square kilometres 7,523 sq mi in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends 360 kilometres 220 mi from north to south and 65 kilometres 40 mi from east to west.The big five are among the most dangerous, yet most popular species for big game hunters to hunt.Safari Club International, an organization dedicated to trophy hunters, offers a trophy for hunting all five species, called the "African Big Five Grand Slam," along with 14 other Grand Slams for other species.South Africa Safari Information Many of the main tourist areas in South Africa are malaria-free, however, the Kruger National Park, the Lowveld of Mpumalanga and Limpopo, and the northern part of KwaZulu-Natal do pose a malaria risk in the summer months. Health care professionals recommend you take malaria prophylaxis. 0 0 0 View All BACK TO TOP

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Big Five Even though you know that Africa and South Africa are so much more than the Big Five, the familiar images soon begin playing in your mind: lions roaring; elephants trumpeting; buffalos lurking in long grass; rhinos standing stately under a thorn tree; leopards prowling in the gathering darkness. You’ve seen the Big Five in books and you’ve seen them on TV. But it’s time to come and see them for yourself. The real thing. In person. And there’s no better place for this than South Africa, which offers the most exciting, memorable and exhilarating experience of your life – coming face to face with the Big Five. Origin of the name How did these five animals – the lion, elephant, buffalo, rhinoceros and leopard – come to be called the Big Five? It was originally a hunting term used by the so-called ‘great white hunters’ in the hunting heyday of the 19th and early 20thcenturies, when professional hunters bagged as many trophies as possible in as short a time as possible. Considered a rite of passage for seasoned travellers, everybody from American presidents to European royalty and heads of state came to Africa to shoot a large, dangerous animal. The Big Five quickly became known as the most dangerous animals to hunt on foot, and the name stuck – although now ‘shooting’ is done through a camera lens. From Targets to Tourist Attractions: Understanding and Protecting the Big Five in South Africa The Big Five are a big deal. Synonymous with safaris, this term carries with it a distinct whiff of excitement and adventure. It wasn’t always about merely spotting animals, however – the phrase goes back to the Colonial Era and was once a hit list rather than a safari checklist. So, what are the Big Five and how did these animals come to be revered above the rest? Introducing the Big Five ​ Big Five refers to African lions, leopards, rhinoceros, elephants, and Cape buffalo. The phrase today is usually used to market safaris, but was first coined by big-game hunters more than 100 years ago. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, everyone from European royalty to American presidents wanted to bag an African hunting trophy. The larger and more unpredictable the beast, the better – which is how the Big Five became famous. The Big Five may be dangerous, but they aren’t invincible. African lions , leopards , and elephants are all classed as Vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The black rhinoceros is Critically Endangered and the Southern white rhino is Near Threatened, while the Northern white rhino is on the verge of extinction. The Cape buffalo is of the least concern in terms of conservation, but this also makes it the most popular animal to hunt. Hunting, poaching, and habitat loss combined mean the Cape buffalo’s population is also on the decline. Where can you find the Big Five? South Africa is a premier destination for viewing the Big Five . Around 80 percent of Africa’s remaining wild rhino population live in South Africa, according to CITES, along with an elephant population of approximately 12,000 – a major recovery from a mere 120 in 1920. There are roughly 20,000 lions left in South Africa (down from 200,000 at the turn of the twentieth century), while leopard numbers are estimated at around 4,500. Tourists have a good chance of seeing the Big Five in many of South Africa’s national parks and private reserves. To get a closer look and better understanding of the Big Five, a volunteer program is a great alternative to a safari. Volunteering in a wildlife reserve in the Kruger Area will give you plenty of opportunities to observe the animals in their natural habitat. No safari tour can compare to monitoring the behavior of elephants and rhinos alongside an expert conservation team! ​ The Big Five then and now: How has game hunting changed since colonial times? There is still an active trade in legal hunting in Africa . South Africa is the biggest game hunting destination in the world. This practice however has undergone significant changes in implementation and public perception over the last century. Four of the Big Five can be hunted in South Africa – the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) banned leopard hunting in 2016. A lioness is typically the cheapest of the ‘set’ to bag, costing around $9,000 to hunt, while a white rhino can cost more than $125,000, says a report by the Natural Resources Committee. Back in colonial times, big game hunting had connotations of aristocracy and glamour. Today, game hunting still belongs to the elite and privileged, thanks to the hefty price tags, but for the most part associations of prestige and sportsmanship have been stripped away. Outside of hunting cliques, public opinion leans towards disgust over the killing of the Big Five. Given the widespread disapproval and population perils facing the Big Five, game hunters have shifted the way they present the practice. Supporters insist that hunting is helping to protect, rather than destroy, the animals. The Influence of Big Five game hunting on South Africa’s economy and conservation Remember Cecil the lion? This big cat’s death and subsequent photo of a dentist gloating over his body triggered outrage around the world and deeper examination of big game hunting in Africa. Arguments surrounding modern game hunting are heavily polarized. Defenders of game hunting say it can aid conservation efforts by generating revenue necessary to protect animals and their habitat – in many areas, land would be used for agriculture if it wasn’t for commercial hunting. Hunters also argue that they are helping to control animal populations and support local communities by providing jobs and income. This in turn could motivate people to protect animals from poaching. Critics argue that minimal profits reach local communities, and that whether or not hunting supports conservation relies on the appropriate management of funds raised and sustainable allocation of animal quotas. Inadequate monitoring makes these factors difficult to control. Either way, trophy hunting is big business in South Africa . According to Africa Check, around 8,500 trophy hunters visit South Africa each year, compared to 9.5 million tourists. These hunters spend more than the average tourist, averaging around $10,000 per hunting trip. Trophy hunting generates an estimated $100 million a year, says South Africa’s DEA. Game hunting might help conservation when managed appropriately, but there are ways to help the Big Five that are much more appealing to animal lovers. ​ What can you do to help preserve the Big Five? Wildlife lovers can assist in conservation efforts, either as tourists or volunteers. Tourists who come to shoot the Big Five with a camera lens rather than a weapon play an important role in conservation. The safari industry generates income to protect parks and reserves, provides jobs for locals, and incentivizes wildlife conservation . Volunteering with animals in South Africa is an even more direct way for you to help in thier conservation. Wildlife conservation centers and safari reserves act as hubs for education, provide refuge for orphaned and injured creatures and facilitate breeding programs to ensure the future of the Big Five. Volunteer program fees at these centers contribute toward running costs, and volunteers themselves return home as ambassadors for animal conservation. Sound good? We might have just the ticket for you. GoEco’s Big Five Volunteer Programs GoEco offers several options for animal lovers keen to enounter the Big Five in an ethical and sustainable way. You can choose to carry out research on elephants , contribute to wildlife conservation efforts by adding your own snaps to a photographic database, or geo-track elusive species . Each project is structured around learning more about and protecting Africa’s unique and beautiful animals. Volunteering in South Africa is a great opportunity for personal and professional growth. You’ll develop practical skills and gain comprehensive wildlife knowledge, all while living in some of the continent’s most stunning wilderness areas. If you’re feeling the call of the wildlife and want to get directly involved in Big Five conservation, reach out to us today to find out more about volunteering with South African animals. ​ Sources: http://www.cites.org/sites/default/files/eng/cop/11/prop/20.pdf http://www.panthera.org/cat/lion http://africacheck.org/factsheets/factsheet-how-much-does-hunting-contribute-to-african-economies/ http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa854b/pdf http://www.savetherhino.org/rhino_info/rhino_population_figures http://conservationaction.co.za/resources/reports/effects-trophy-hunting-five-africas-iconic-wild-animal-populations-six-countries-analysis/ http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/08/10/world/africa/africa-big-game-hunting.html http://conservationaction.co.za/resources/reports/effects-trophy-hunting-five-africas-iconic-wild-animal-populations-six-countries-analysis/ http://www.thedodo.com/does-hunting-help-conservation-1389284014.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_five_game http://businesstech.co.za/news/lifestyle/127055/how-much-it-costs-to-hunt-the-big-five-in-south-africa/ http://www.reuters.com/article/us-safrica-leopards/big-5-off-the-cards-as-south-africa-closes-2016-leopard-hunting-season-idUSKCN0WF07C All Videos All Videos Play Video Share Whole Channel This Video Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied Search video... Now Playing South Africa Travel Documentary - Road trip along the Garden Route | Highlights [4K] 34:58 Play Video Now Playing 10 Best Places to Visit in South Africa - Travel Video 11:41 Play Video Now Playing SOUTH AFRICA TRAVEL (2024) | The 15 BEST Places To Visit In South Africa (+ Travel Tips) 17:51 Play Video Now Playing HIGH UP in the East Cape Drakensberg: So Many INSANE Mountain Passes! | Drakensberg pt.1 24:30 Play Video The Big Five The Lion The lion is arguably the most sought-after of the Big Five because it is synonymous with an African safari. Charismatic, powerful and beautiful, everybody wants to see the appropriately named 'King of the Beasts'. Once, hundreds of thousands of lions roamed the world, but today conservationists give approximate numbers of between 25 000 and 30 000 left, most in sub-Saharan Africa. In South Africa, your chances of seeing lions are high, whether in our national parks or in private game reserves. Lions are creatures of the savannah and open plains (you’ll rarely find them in a forest) and function in prides, usually numbering about five to 15, depending on the territory – although the Kruger National Park is known to have at least one big pride of up to 25 animals. They are social family animals – related females rule, usually alongside a large dominant male that has won the pride in fierce competition with other males. Lionesses stay with the pride, while young males leave at two to three years of age. Males sometimes form coalitions to enhance their hunting success, but you’ll rarely see one with more than four lions. Lionesses start breeding at four years old, and typically give birth to a litter of three or four cubs after 14 to 15 weeks of gestation. Lionesses of the same pride often give birth at or near the same time as their ‘sisters’, which allows for communal suckling and round-the-clock care. And don’t expect to see an old lion – they are defeated in battle, often die of their wounds or are no longer able to hunt. Lions are in their prime from five to nine years of age. Male lions, once they’ve taken over a pride, have to work hard to keep it. Younger males – with attitude – are always on the sidelines. Some prides specialise in hunting certain animals and develop specialised skills for this prey of choice – young elephants, ostrich, wildebeest. Lions have no natural enemies other than hunters, although lion cubs fall prey to nomadic male lions that kill them in attempting to take over a pride. Hyenas, leopards and wild dogs also kill lion cubs. The Elephant The Elephant Perhaps it’s the African elephant that should be called ‘King of the Beasts’ – it is the world’s largest and heaviest land animal. Its ears alone measure up to 2m x 1.2m (roughly the size of the surface area of a double bed) and can weigh up to 20kg (44lb) each, while it can grow to a height of more than 3m. Elephants abound in South Africa – you can see great herds of more than 100 in the Kruger National Park or smaller breeding herds in private reserves. Elephants are highly social animals and females rule. A herd will typically have a matriarch with vast cultural knowledge that leads the herd, keeps it under control and chooses its direction and pace. Even when feeding (and an adult elephant, arguably nature’s most versatile vegetarian, can eat up to 300kg of grass, bark, branches and foliage a day), the herd rarely strays far from the matriarch. Young bulls leave the herd when they become teenagers and either live alone, form bachelor herds or seek the company of old lone bulls that have long left the herd. Your first sighting of a tiny baby elephant will be one of your most indelible memories. How do these small creatures, some not yet reaching up to their mother’s tummy, avoid being stepped on or crushed by the herd? Mother, sisters, aunts and cousins are always on the alert. Watch how mothers protect their babies by always putting themselves between danger and their offspring, and how the whole herd immediately goes into protective group defence mode when threatened. If an elephant trumpets, you’ll certainly hear it, but the infrasonic tummy rumbles they use to communicate with one another are most often too low for the human ear to pick up – although research shows that these calls have an elephant range of up to several kilometres. And just because elephants are huge, don’t think they are slow; if a herd takes fright, or needs to move on quickly, elephants can reach speeds up to 40km/h – faster than you can run. Elephants love water. To see a herd drinking, playing, splashing, swimming and dunking in the water will be another of your favourite safari memories. The Buffalo The Buffalo Don’t be fooled by the docile appearance of the Cape buffalo (also known as the African buffalo). This mean, moody and magnificent animal is possibly the most dangerous of the Big Five, especially if you are on foot. Robert Ruark, the American novelist, wrote that ‘a buffalo always looks at you as if you owe him money’. Come face to face with a buffalo (preferably from the safety of a vehicle), and you’ll see exactly what Ruark meant – the stare is cold, calculating and cunning. Buffalos are social animals and move around in large herds – sometimes of many hundreds – chomping long grass as they collectively move and feed. In the dry season, you can often see a cloud of dust signalling an approaching herd. Buffalos have to drink daily, and to witness a large herd approaching a waterhole – often in the early morning or late afternoon – is a memorable and noisy experience. It’s quite easy to tell the males from the females. The males are blacker, bigger and have huge powerful horns that are joined in the middle to form a ‘boss’. When buffalos fight for rank and females (buffalos are non-territorial and don’t fight for territory like some others of the Big Five), the noise of the clashing and crashing of their bosses is awesome. It is estimated that the impact of their horns’ collision is equal to a car hitting a wall at 50km/h. Females are smaller, more reddish-brown in colour, and their much narrower horns don’t meet in the middle. Calves are usually born in the rainy season, and although they can stand up on wobbly legs immediately, it takes several weeks until they can keep up adequately with the herd. Although most of a buffalo’s senses are well developed, it’s their super-charged hearing that helps them find food and alerts them to danger. There’s usually a dominant male – or more if the herd is huge – that stays in the middle of the herd, as well as ‘pathfinders’, which may not be the biggest and best, but lead the herd and keep it together. You may also see a group of old bulls together – caked in mud from wallowing. These are known as ‘Dagha Boys’ after the ‘dagha’, or mud, the Zulus used to build their traditional huts. It’s quite easy to tell the males from the females. The males are blacker, bigger and have huge powerful horns that are joined in the middle to form a ‘boss’. When buffalos fight for rank and females (buffalos are non-territorial and don’t fight for territory like some others of the Big Five), the noise of the clashing and crashing of their bosses is awesome. It is estimated that the impact of their horns’ collision is equal to a car hitting a wall at 50km/h. Females are smaller, more reddish-brown in colour, and their much narrower horns don’t meet in the middle. Calves are usually born in the rainy season, and although they can stand up on wobbly legs immediately, it takes several weeks until they can keep up adequately with the herd. Although most of a buffalo’s senses are well developed, it’s their super-charged hearing that helps them find food and alerts them to danger. There’s usually a dominant male – or more if the herd is huge – that stays in the middle of the herd, as well as ‘pathfinders’, which may not be the biggest and best, but lead the herd and keep it together. You may also see a group of old bulls together – caked in mud from wallowing. These are known as ‘Dagha Boys’ after the ‘dagha’, or mud, the Zulus used to build their traditional huts. The White Rhino The White Rhino Your first impression will be of its bulk and size. And then you may wonder how such a prehistoric-looking animal has existed for so many millions of years. Although unfortunately, the brutality and intensity of present-day poaching is a serious threat to the continuing survival of the species. The second-largest land mammal, the white rhino’s name has nothing to do with its colour. It was the early Dutch settlers who referred to the animal’s broad lips as ‘wyd’ (wide), misinterpreted later as ‘white’. This is a remarkable animal, weighing in at nearly 2 500kg (about 5 500lb) and often living up to 40 years of age. Because it is a grazer, eating thick, tough grass, it needs lots of water to digest its food, and needs to drink at least once daily. Sometimes you’ll see a rhino eating mud or soil, which acts as a dietary mineral supplement. Its horn is used for fighting and defence and is not attached to the skull in any way. Females live together in small groups, individuals breaking away when a determined bull decides to mate. Only one calf is born to a female at a time; the cow is very protective of her calf and will fight off an aggressive bull if necessary. The calf always runs in front of its mother if they are fleeing from danger (a black rhino calf, on the other hand, will run behind its mother). You’ll often find a white rhino resting in shade in the heat of the day or wallowing in mud. The dried mud acts as a sunscreen, a cooling agent and helps evict parasites that break off with the dried mud. Look out for rhino middens beside the road. These are huge heaps of dung, used regularly by a particular male rhino to mark his territory. Females and non-dominant bulls also defecate on these middens, which act as markers and information signals to other rhinos. Rhinos have poor eyesight but a fantastic sense of hearing and smell; watch a rhino’s ears – they constantly rotate in all directions as it works out what’s going on around it. And don’t think that because it’s so big and ungainly it’s a slow animal. If it’s running away (or chasing you), it can reach speeds of 40km/h. The Black Rhino The black rhino is smaller than its larger ‘white’ relative, is more solitary and elusive, and has a shorter head and beak-shaped lip that it uses for browsing leaves and twigs. Regarded as a more dangerous animal than the white rhino because of its volatile temperament, it is now one of the most endangered animals in Africa. The Leopard The Leopard The one animal everybody wants to see – beautiful, charismatic, sexy and dramatic – and also the most elusive. The leopard is a solitary animal (unless mating, or a mother with cubs) and will, whether male or female, fiercely defend its own hunting territory from other leopards. Considered to be one of the most successful, if not the most successful, of all African predators, the leopard is a master stalker. If you are lucky, particularly on a night drive (as leopards are nocturnal animals), you may see a leopard stalking its prey – silently, ruthlessly – before getting to within 5m of the prey and then launching itself with a powerful spring. Surprise is its chief means of attack. Leopards often athletically drag their prey up into trees (sometimes the dead animal is as heavy as the leopard) to avoid having it pirated by other animals, particularly lions and hyenas. Look out for thick overhanging branches of big old trees – you may well find a leopard snoozing there during the hottest part of the day, or snacking on its prey. Leopards take great pains to advertise their territories by scent marking, scraping the ground and defecating in exposed spots. They try to avoid confrontation with other leopards (unless protecting their territory) because, as solitary hunters, they can’t afford to get injured. Leopards make great mothers and take excellent care of their offspring, moving them from one place of safety to another when the cubs are very small – just as well, because young cubs are vulnerable to other leopards, lions, hyenas and wild dogs. Take a look at the black markings behind the ears and white tip of a mother’s long tail – these are signals for small cubs to follow. That long tail is also used as a rudder for balance when the leopard is climbing a tree or hunting. A leopard also has long whiskers that it uses as antennae to judge spaces between bushes and trees – an essential tool for an animal that hunts at night. What are Africa’s Big Five? Black rhinoceroses stand in the savanna in Kenya's Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. There are fewer than 6,000 black rhinos left in the wild, though their population is on the rise. Photograph by Frans Lanting, Nat Geo Image Collection ​ What are Africa’s Big Five? Meet the continent’s most iconic wildlife Once mostly targeted by hunters, these large species are “awe-inspiring” sights for safari-goers. ByLiz Langley July 26, 2019 •5 min read ​ If you’ve gone on an African safari , chances are you’ve heard of the Big Five, the must-see list of iconic megafauna. Lions , leopards, elephants , African buffalo , and rhinoceroses are “what people think of when they think of Africa and wildlife,” says Natalia Borrego , a research associate at the University of Minnesota Lion Center. The term, coined in the late 1800s during Africa’s colonial period , refers to what trophy hunters considered the most challenging and dangerous animals to hunt on foot. These animals are still hunted today , but a shift toward tourism has also made seeing the Big Five an “awe-inspiring” goal for any safari-goer, Borrego says. 1:05 Africa’s Big Five Animals: What Are They?For a continent that is known for its amazing wildlife, these are the biggest of the big. These magnificent beasts are Africa's "big five." Learn photo tips for heading on safari in Botswana That’s especially true because all of these species are decreasing in population—lions in particular are struggling, having lost 94 percent of their original habitat . Only about 20,000 of the big cats remain in the wild. Here’s are some fascinating facts about the Big Five. Leopard This is the most elusive, and also the smallest, of the five. “I call them ninja cats because they’re just sneaky and they’re harder to spot,” Borrego says. Speaking of spots, most leopards are light-colored, with distinctive dark spots that are called rosettes. Black leopards, which appear to be almost solid in color because their spots are hard to distinguish, are commonly called black panthers . The solitary big cats haul large kills, such as zebra or antelope, into a tree to eat alone, in peace. There’s another reason for leopards to stay aloft: They don’t exactly get along with their fellow Big Fiver, the African lion. If a lion has a chance to kill a leopard, it will. (Related: “A lioness killing a leopard floored these filmmakers .”) African lion Lions are the only social big cat, but don’t expect to see the king. There isn’t one. These big cats are “not born into a rank,” Borrego says. “They are egalitarian, which means they don’t have a permanent social hierarchy.” One male may be dominant over the others, but that can change at any time. Lion society is also matrilineal, “so the females hold the territories,” and stay with the pride into which they’re born. (Related story: “In real life, Simba’s mom would be running the pride .”) African buffalo These hefty, cow-like animals often congregate by the thousands in the Serengeti; forming large groups is one defense against predators. Male and female buffalo both have horns, but the males’ curve upward and fuse together in the center, forming a solid bony plate called a boss. It’s a helpful defense—as is being more than three times heavier than their lion adversaries. That’s why a lion that attacks a buffalo is taking a huge risk of dying. Buffalo can be aggressive, and frequently come into conflict with humans outside of protected areas. African elephant The biggest of the Big Five is the African savanna elephant, which can weigh up to seven tons. The African forest elephant, which is about three feet shorter and lives in the forests of the Congo Basin, was declared a separate species after genetic testing in 2010 showed big differences between the forest and savanna dwellers. Savanna elephants are large enough to change the landscape , pulling up trees to make grasslands, dispersing seeds, and overall increasing biodiversity. Long sought after by poachers, elephants have a fragmented range throughout central and southern Africa . Rhinoceroses There are two species—the black rhinoceros and the white rhinoceros—and five subspecies between them left in Africa. Those include the northern white rhino, the southern white rhino, the eastern black rhino, the southern central black rhino, and the southwestern black rhino. All are huge, with a top weight of 5,000 pounds and horns that can grow up to five feet long. Due largely to poaching for their horns , the western black rhino was declared extinct in 2011 . The last male northern white rhino died in 2018 , with only two females remaining—making that subspecies functionally extinct. (Learn about the different types of extinction .) About 20,000 southern white rhinos remain, mostly in southern Africa. Conservation efforts have helped increase the population of the smaller, critically endangered black rhino , found mainly in East and southern Africa. Other Fives Africa is incredibly rich in wildlife, which is why several other “fives” have popped up over the years, such as the Little Five —including the leopard tortoise and the elephant shrew—the Shy Five , and the Ugly Five , which, to say the least, is a bit subjective. (Read why people find “ugly” animals cute .) BACK TO TOP